The 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships came to an end, and the national table tennis won all five championships. This World Table Tennis Championships is the first world competition after the new national table tennis coaching staff took office, the men's table tennis head coach Wang Hao successfully completed the task, and the female table tennis head coach Ma Lin was tested. The "two kings and one horse" at the peak of the national table tennis took a group photo in Durban again, and Ma Lin put her hand on the shoulder of Wang Liqin, who was much taller than herself, and the three of them smiled very happily.
At the end of December last year, National Table Tennis conducted a coach competition, Wang Hao became the head coach of the men's table tennis team, Ma Lin became the head coach of the women's team, and the two who had fought together on the field changed their identities to fight side by side again. The Durban World Table Tennis Championships is the first World Table Tennis Championships ushered in after Wang Hao and Ma Lin became the head coaches of the men's and women's teams, and it is also a middle school entrance examination before the Paris Olympics, and the pressure of the two can be imagined. In the end, the national table tennis men's team did not lose a foreign battle, the men's singles won the final four, and the men won the championship; Although the women's team reached the semifinals with three people, swept the women's singles championship and runner-up, and the women's doubles also won the championship smoothly, Wang Yidi lost 9 match points to Hina Hayata of Japan in the women's singles 1/4 final, and the defending women's doubles champions Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu lost 0-3 to the South Korean pair Shin Yubin/Tian Zhixi in the women's doubles semifinals.
After the Durban World Table Tennis Championships award ceremony, Fan Zhendong, who successfully defended the men's singles champion, took a group photo with Wang Liqin, which caused heated discussions among fans. As the director of the Shanghai Table Feather Center, Wang Liqin flew to Durban to cheer for Shanghai team athlete Fan Zhendong. After Fan Zhendong won the men's singles championship, Wang Liqin also lifted the men's singles championship trophy again. Seeing Wang Liqin appear in Durban, many fans called for "two kings and one horse" to combine, and the staff of the national table tennis sponsor posted a photo of the two kings and one horse reuniting, although the three have retired for many years and changed their identities, but the feeling that the three are still close comrades who have fought side by side for many years.
"Two Kings and One Horse" represents the glory of the national table tennis men's team in the Beijing Olympic cycle, and the three of them raised three five-star red flags together at the Beijing Olympics. Wang Liqin and Ma Lin entered the team a little earlier, and Wang Hao is the younger brother of the three. All three have brilliant careers, but they all regret missing out on Grand Slams. Wang Liqin is a three-time World Table Tennis Championships men's singles champion, winning the Olympic men's doubles and men's team championships, but won two bronze medals in the men's singles event; Ma Lin won the Olympic gold medals in men's singles, men's doubles, and men's team, but she hated it continuously in the men's singles final at the World Table Tennis Championships; Wang Hao held the men's singles gold medal in the World Table Tennis Championships and two Olympic men's team gold medals, but fell three times in a row to the closest place to the men's singles gold medal.
Wang Liqin and Ma Lin withdrew from National Table Tennis in December 2013, and Wang Hao announced his retirement in December 2014. Now, the three of them have happy families and successful careers, and they have been relieved that they did not win the Grand Slam in their athletes' careers, Wang Hao and Ma Long shoulder the heavy responsibility of the head coaches of the national table tennis men's and women's teams, looking forward to their disciples winning more championships and achieving Grand Slams; Wang Liqin embarked on a career path, but he did not leave table tennis and continued to contribute to the development of table tennis projects.