On the afternoon of April 19, the first round of women's singles at the WTT Championship Macao Station was cancelled, Chen Xingtong became the only national player who failed to break into the second round of women's singles, for her who has just returned to the world No. 5 in the world ranking, stopping at the first round and losing the foreign battle is obviously not good news, Macau is the last warm-up match before the opening of the Durban World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Xingtong has few opportunities to prove himself in the Paris Olympic cycle.
At last week's WTT Championship in Xinxiang, Chen Xingtong beat Wang Manyu to reach the semifinals, and although she failed to reach the final, the points earned at the station put her world ranking back in fifth. It is worth mentioning that the fifth is Chen Xingtong's current status in China's women's table tennis.
In the table tennis arena, the "old five" of a team is a more embarrassing role, and the only favorable condition is: just among the team lineup of the World Table Tennis Championships.
In the team competition of the Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships held last year, Chen Xingtong was the "old fifth" of Chinese women's table tennis, when she and the "fourth old" Wang Yidi participated as substitutes. In the group stage and the elimination stage of non-key rounds, Chen Xingtong and Wang Yidi still have a chance to play, and when it comes to the key round, the qualification for Chinese women's table tennis is covered by Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu.
In fact, the World Table Tennis Championships team competition has 5 places per team is quite "generous", and the Olympic team competition is much harsher, because each team only has 3 places. Compared with the "old five", the Olympic Games have a "preferential policy" for each team's "old four" - to participate as a P card player. Historically, the probability of a P card player playing is very low, but after all, there is a certain possibility, and Wang Manyu created a miracle during the Tokyo Olympics, she became the first player in Olympic history to win the championship as a P card player.
For Chen Xingtong, the Durban World Table Tennis Championships should be an opportunity for her to prove herself, the World Table Tennis Championships has high points and is the main assessment event when the national table tennis decision-making level selects Olympic candidates. However, with Chen Xingtong's reality, it is unlikely that she will achieve a counterattack at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban.
Compared with the other four "golden flowers", Chen Xingtong has too many disadvantages, her age ranks second (Note: the same age as Wang Yidi), her personal record and strength rank fifth, and she is still the "golden flower" that loses the most outside the Paris Olympic cycle. These factors mean that Chen Xing's probability of taking a spot in the Paris Olympics after the same year is very small. (Wang Quanli)