On the evening of March 19, Beijing time, the 2023 WTT Singapore Grand Slam came to an end. The men's and women's singles finals staged the "Chinese Civil War", with Fan Zhendong defeating Ma Long 4-1 to win the men's singles title, after Fan Zhendong partnered Wang Chuqin to win the men's doubles title; Sun Yingsha beat Qian Tianyi 4-1, and after winning the mixed doubles and women's doubles, she won the women's singles championship again, achieving the triple crown of this competition. Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha also defended the honor of being the number one in the world for men and women.
2023 is the year of the sprint before the Olympics. Liu Guoliang, president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, once said in an interview that this year's national team will observe and select athletes from the aspects of competition performance and pressure resistance, laying the foundation for next year's Olympic Games.
Singapore is a blessed place for Fan Zhendong. In December 2021, he defeated Tomokazu Changmoto in the WTT World Cup finals in Singapore to win the men's singles title. In March 2022, he defeated Ma Long at the 2022 WTT Singapore Grand Slam to win the men's singles title. A year later, Fan Zhendong was once again tested and defended his men's singles title.
After the match, Fan Zhendong said that he encountered a lot of difficulties in this competition, "From the beginning I didn't feel very smooth, to the end I played better and better, my confidence slowly recovered, and my desire to win became stronger and stronger." ”
Sun Yingsha said in the summary, "In this competition, Qian Tianyi's state is very good. The first three games were more glued, and they adjusted their skills and tactics in the fourth game, and returned to their own control in the next game. The first time she competed in three competitions, she won three championships, and Sun Yingsha said that she was "more and more excited" with her energy and physical strength to the back, hoping to continue to cheer in the next competition.
The outstanding performance of Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha also made Liu Guoliang more confident in the expectations of the national table tennis Olympic team. Liu Guoliang once said that the overall framework of the National Table Tennis Olympics has taken initial shape, in addition to some of the original main athletes, there are also some young players who have emerged to bring surprises.
It is worth mentioning that although Qian Tianyi eventually ranked second-up, her performance was obvious to all. She has successively overcome Chen Siyu, Ito Mimako, Yuan Jianan, Polkanova, Zhang Rui and many good players, showing a good competitive state. With her wonderful performance in this tournament, Qian Tianyi's world ranking will enter the top 10 in the women's singles world for the first time next week.
In the mixed doubles competition, Sun Yingsha/Wang Chuqinlik Japanese pair Tomokazu Chang / Hina Hayata won the championship. Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin complement each other in technology and are able to play their respective strengths in the competition. In recent years, the "Shatou Combination" has won the mixed doubles championship of the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston and the mixed doubles championship of the 2022 Singapore Grand Slam, and this competition has successfully defended its title. This mixed doubles pair, ranked number one in the world, is expected to turn over the battle for the national table tennis at the Paris Olympics.
This year's Durban World Table Tennis Championships and Hangzhou Asian Games will test the Chinese table tennis team in an all-round way. Liu Guoliang believes that the current main opponents of Guoping are all from Asia, and in comparison, the women's project is not greatly affected; In men's events, the challenges posed by Asian and world opponents are still different.
Liu Guoliang analyzed that in the five events of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese table tennis team has the strength to compete for gold, but in the five events, there are challenges from many opponents, the key is how the team selects the lineup well, selects the strongest strength, the strongest pressure resistance, and the most trusted athletes.
The Paris Olympics is the ultimate goal of national table tennis. Liu Guoliang believes that during the preparation period of more than a year, there are great variables, and there is also a lot of space, the key is how the Chinese table tennis team can concentrate, maintain focus, and further consolidate its advantages in the world table tennis arena.
Editor-in-chief: Chen Hua Source: Xinhua News Agency
Source: Author: Qin Dongying