WTT Zagreb Challenge, June 19 two women's singles semi-finals competition, in the end, the Japanese women's table tennis became the biggest winner, Hirano Miyu and Ito Mimachi in the semifinals, respectively, defeated their respective opponents, successfully met the final, the Japanese women's table tennis won the championship and runner-up in advance!
Is the scene of winning the championship and runner-up in advance, do we feel so familiar? Because in many previous competitions, the Chinese team often won the championship and runner-up in advance, but this time, the protagonist of the story became the Japanese team!
It is worth mentioning that the two 39-year-old German Chinese veterans Han Ying and Shan Xiaona met with Japan's Ito Mimachi and Hirano Miyu in the semifinals.
Han Ying and Shan Xiaona, both athletes who went out from the Chinese team, later joined the German nationality, represented the German team in international competitions, and once reached the women's team final at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, and finally lost to the Chinese team and won the team runner-up at the Olympic Games.
But after all, the two people are there, they are not young, facing two 22-year-old Young Japanese players, although many fans hope that two Chinese veterans can block the final of the Japanese Women's Table Tennis Division, but in fact, this is unlikely.
Sure enough, in the first women's singles semifinal, Hirano Miyu played against Shan Xiaona, and Hirano Miyu quickly entered the game state, taking a 6-1 lead.
And Shan Xiaona, despite her best efforts, still could not stop Hirano Miyu's attack and lost the first set 5-11.
In the second set, Shan Xiaona's state still did not improve, 11-2, Hirano Miyu easily won another set.
Although Shan Xiaona chased the big score to 2 draws with 11-8 and 11-7 scores in the subsequent matches, the two did have a big gap in strength, and Hirano Miyu regained her strength and won two more sets 11-3 and 11-2, defeating Shan Xiaona 4-2 and reaching the women's singles final.
In another women's singles semifinal, Ito took on another Veteran Of German Chinese Han Ying.
Because Han Ying is a chipping style of play, and everyone knows that Ito Mimachi is still very good at playing against the chipping ball.
Sure enough, after the game began, in the face of Ito's attack, Han Ying did everything in her power, and finally was swept by Ito 6-11, 8-11, 4-11, 9-11, 0-4.
In this way, Ito Mimachi successfully met with Hirano Miyu in the final, and the Japanese women's table tennis also won the women's singles championship and runner-up of this event in advance!
In this Zagreb Challenge, the Chinese team sent 17 contestants for the purpose of training young athletes, all of whom were post-00s players, of which only Ku man did not have to play the qualification match, and the rest of the players had to start from the qualification tournament.
It can be seen that the young athletes sent by the Chinese team have not had much experience in international competitions before, which has also led to only one Person in Chinese Women's Table Tennis reaching the women's singles quarterfinals. In the final four, there is no longer a Figure of Chinese Women's Table Tennis.
In this challenge match, many fans were more optimistic that Ku Man could block the Japanese women's table tennis, but unfortunately, Ku Man was defeated in the match with South Korea's 16-year-old Kim Na Young and was out early. This has also disappointed many fans.
But in fact, in this Zagreb Challenge, it is not surprising that the Chinese team was completely destroyed in the women's team, after all, this group of young players rarely had the opportunity to participate in international competitions before, and Japan's Ito Mimachi and Hirano Miyu and other players have been participating in international competitions since the age of thirteen or fourteen.
Ito and Hirano even won the Women's Doubles championship at the German Open eight years ago, knowing that the two were only 14 years old at the time!
A number of young players such as Ito Mimachi and Hirano Miyu are the products of The Japanese Table Tennis Generation Training, and now the facts have proved that Japan's Generation Training Program still has a certain effect! In particular, Ito won the mixed doubles title at the Tokyo Olympics last year!
Compared with the Japanese team, the previous Chinese team was more conservative in its use of personnel, preferring to use some players with rich experience in competitions, while ignoring the cultivation of young athletes.
Nowadays, it seems that the Chinese team has also begun to increase the training of young athletes, and I believe that in the near future, these young players such as Kuman Chen Yi will soon grow up and continue to defend the glory of national table tennis! Come on!