On the evening of May 28, Beijing time, the women's singles final of the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships was launched between two Chinese players, and Shandong girl Chen Meng lost 2:4 to teammate Sun Yingsha. Sun Yingsha won the women's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, becoming the first post-00 singles champion in the history of the World Table Tennis Championships, and the national table tennis also achieved the 15th consecutive championship of the World Table Tennis Championships women's singles.
Before the World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng won the Women's Table Tennis World Cup in 2020 and won the gold medal in the women's singles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. If she can win the women's singles crown at the Durban World Table Tennis Championships this time, she will become the sixth Chinese women's table tennis player to win the women's singles gold medal in the three major events of the Olympic Games, World Table Tennis Championships and World Cup after Deng Yaping, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning. After winning the first game, Chen Meng finally lost to Sun Yingsha 2:4, and the scores of 6 games were: 11:5, 8:11, 7:11, 7:11, 11:7, 6:11 (Chen Meng scored first), and unfortunately missed the Grand Slam.
Although she failed to win the women's singles championship she wanted the most, Chen Meng won the women's doubles championship at this World Table Tennis Championships, and more importantly, she has experienced hardships all the way in the past two years, but she has a firm goal and continues to climb the peak. In next year's Paris Olympics, Chen Meng will most likely choose to stick to it, and her persistence in her dreams and love for the table will continue to move fans. On the evening of May 28, a fan left a message on Chen Meng's Weibo: "Chen Meng has worked hard! Thank you for persevering along the way! After that, there are no more shackles, so enjoy the rest of the game. ”
3 key finals
The opponents are Sun Yingsha
Chen Meng, a native of Qingdao, Shandong, began to practice table tennis at the age of 5, entered the table tennis team of Shandong Province at the age of 10, and was selected to the national team at the age of 17. After entering the national team, although Chen Meng also won the World Youth Championships, Asian Games, Asian Championships, ITTF Finals, World Table Tennis Championships Women's Team and many other competitions, she did not win her first singles world championship until November 2020: the table tennis World Cup women's singles championship, when she defeated Sun Yingsha 4:1. On July 29, 2021, in the women's singles final of table tennis at the Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng defeated Sun Yingsha again 4:2, and won the women's singles crown of table tennis in her first Olympic Games, fulfilling her dream of being an Olympic champion.
At 7:00 p.m. Beijing time on May 28, 2023, Chen Meng stood in the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban, this time, her opponent was still Sun Yingsha. The 23-year-old Sun Yingsha is now ranked No. 1 in the world and is on the rise, and like Chen Meng, she has never won the World Table Tennis Championships women's singles championship before. Facing such a strong opponent, Chen Meng said before the game that he was looking forward to the performance of the two in the final, "Every time I enter the final, I fight one by one, and this time is actually the same, the whole process is very difficult, I hope I can continue to do my best in the final." Sun Yingsha said that she hopes that she can enjoy the process, "No matter what the result is, it is better to leave no regrets." "The third key final between Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha, the last to laugh, this time it was the younger Sun Yingsha.
5 World Table Tennis Championships (Individual Competition)
Failed to win the gold medal in the women's singles
In fact, Chen Meng had hoped to win the Grand Slam as early as two years ago. In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng was crowned a double champion, if she can win the women's singles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston in November of that year, it means that she will become a Grand Slam player in only 385 days, and she will also surpass her brother Zhang Jike's 445 days to become the holder of the new record of the fastest Grand Slam in the world table tennis world. But regrettably, Chen Meng has not been in very good shape after the Tokyo Olympics, losing 3:4 to teammate Wang Manyu in the semifinals of the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, and Wang Manyu finally won the women's singles championship.
In fact, Chen Meng's first three World Table Tennis Championships (single competition) performance was not very good: in the 2013 Paris World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng lost to Zhu Yuling and stopped at the women's singles quarterfinals; In the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Düsseldorf, Chen Meng was unlucky, lost to nemesis Zhu Yuling again, and once again stopped at the women's singles quarterfinals; In the 2019 Budapest World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng, the favorite to win the championship, entered the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, and finally lost to Liu Shiwen, who played better.
In the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng, who participated in the World Table Tennis Championships (single competition) for the fifth time, was not optimistic about the outside world before the competition, after all, she is 29 years old this year, and the state of the past two years has also been ups and downs. In the eyes of many fans, although Chen Meng won two gold medals in women's singles and women's team at the Tokyo Olympics, she is not a convincing "first sister" of national table tennis, because Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong and Wang Yidi these young players have indeed put a lot of pressure on Chen Meng. As soon as the results of the women's singles draw of the Durban World Table Tennis Championships came out, the outside world generally commented that Chen Meng drew a lot, but he did not expect that Chen Meng's performance exceeded people's imagination. She first defeated Egypt's Yusla Hermi 4-0 in the first round of the women's singles, and then swept Thailand's Genipa Savitabout 4-0 in the second round of the women's singles to advance to the round of 32. In the third round of the women's singles, Chen Meng defeated Germany's Shan Xiaona 4-0 to advance to the round of 16. In the women's singles 1/8 final, Chen Meng eliminated the powerful new-generation Japanese player Miyu Kihara 4:2. On the evening of May 26, Beijing time, the women's singles 1/4 final was a focus battle, and Chen Meng eliminated Japan's Mimato Ito 4:0, one step closer to the goal of the individual Grand Slam. It is worth mentioning that Chen Meng has won all 5 times against Mimato Ito in international competitions. In the women's singles semifinals, Chen Meng's opponent was teammate Chen Xingtong. Chen Xingtong had previously upset in another women's singles quarter-final, knocking out defending champion Wang Manyu 4-0. Chen Meng trailed 1:5 in the second game, but she tenaciously chased the score to 8 and eventually won 13:11. In the third game, Chen Meng quickly led 5:1. When Chen Xingtong chased the score to 8:9, Chen Meng called a timeout and then ate a banana to replenish his energy. The timeout came back and the two sides fought to a 10-draw draw. Chen Meng seized the opportunity and won the third set 14:12. She then won two consecutive games 11:7 and 11:7, defeating Chen Xingtong 4:1 to meet her old rival Sun Yingsha in the final.
Compared with 23-year-old Sun Yingsha, 29-year-old Chen Meng is at a disadvantage in age and physical fitness. And before the women's singles final, Chen Meng also played one more women's doubles final - she and Wang Yidi partnered to defeat the South Korean pair Tian Zhixi/Shin Yubin 3:0, which was also the first time Chen Meng won the single gold medal of the World Table Tennis Championships. After 4 years of entering the women's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships again, Chen Meng is very eager to achieve a grand slam in her 5th World Table Tennis Championships (single event), but she still lost in age and physical fitness.
Rely on strength to get out of online violence
Will it hold out in two years?
In the early morning of May 28, Beijing time, after Chen Meng and Wang Yidi won the women's doubles championship, a fan left a message on Chen Meng's Weibo: "Go all out to play every point, enjoy the hard game, you did it!" The hardships and efforts along the way, you resisted the pressure, deserved all the focus and eyes, deserved all the flowers and applause. ”
As this fan said, Chen Meng's two years have been a bit tormenting. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng won two gold medals in the women's singles and women's team in a row, and after winning the women's singles championship, she was even more proud: "My time has come, and I finally waited for this day." This sentence caused a lot of controversy among fans, and Chen Meng was also subjected to online violence, some people thought she was too arrogant, and even some extreme fans questioned her Olympic champion. At the Shaanxi National Games in September of that year, Chen Meng was affected by a shoulder injury, and her condition took a sharp turn, losing to Wang Manyu, Chen Xingtong and Liu Shiwen in a row, and finally only won the fourth place in the women's singles and the runner-up in the women's team. In the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, Chen Meng stopped at the women's singles semifinals. In the past two years, Chen Meng, who has not recovered from his shoulder injury, is still not in good condition and has lost many games. In the 2022 WTT Singapore Grand Slam women's singles final, Chen Meng defeated Wang Manyu 4:3 to win the championship, which is one of her few highlights in the past two years.
"Although the road is long, the road is coming; Although it is difficult, it will be done. Although the road was difficult, Chen Meng persevered, because deep down, there was still a Grand Slam dream that had not been realized. After defeating teammate Chen Xingtong in this World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng said that the most important thing to compete with teammates is the inner confrontation, "Every time I enter the final, I fight one by one, and this process is also very difficult, I hope to continue to do my best in the final." "This World Table Tennis Championships, although she did not win the women's singles gold medal, Chen Meng achieved a breakthrough in women's doubles, which may be a focus of her future development.
Chen Meng once said that in the Paris Olympic cycle, he hopes that he can continue to win glory for the country. It seems that if there are no major accidents, Chen Meng will strive to participate in next year's Paris Olympics. As for whether Chen Meng can still participate in the 2025 Qatar World Table Tennis Championships (single event), it is actually not important to continue to impact the Grand Slam. The important thing is that Chen Meng got out of the Internet riot with his own strength and hard work, interpreting the meaning of sportsmanship and perseverance.
New Yellow River Reporter: Li Fujie Editor: Sun Feifei