One day in 1992, 5-year-old Fang Bo was led by his mother into the Jinzhou Gymnasium and saw a table tennis player in training for the first time. The crisp collision sound between the "snap" and "snap" chess pieces and the ball board made the innocent little boy a little distracted for a while.
His mother couldn't help but smile when she saw her son's fascinated appearance. This should be the dazzling "first look" in a child's life.
After that trip to the gymnasium, Fang Bo began to take lessons from teachers who were proficient in table tennis skills. Sometimes it takes 6 hours a day to practice, which is too boring for a 5-year-old boy who simply loves to play.
Fang Bo also had times when he was rebellious, but in the end, he still obediently completed his daily training. After all, he knew in his heart that this was the reason why his mother let him leave early for two classes during the day, and it was also his father's wish that he had been looking forward to for many years.
The bits and pieces of growth are bitter and sweet. After several years of training, Fang Bo finally achieved something and entered the provincial children's team to receive special training. However, the joke of fate is that he was not promoted to the Liaoning professional team as he wished.
This made the family of three very disappointed.
Fang Bo was 17 years old that year, and finally waited for the notice of being selected for the national team. The father, who was always gentle in his memory, hugged his son excitedly for the first time and shouted: "Son, you are the pride of our family!"
The day before joining the team to report, Fang Bo climbed to the roof of the community alone. At night, the young man looked at the dense stars in the sky. He is thinking about his dreams, and he is also thinking about this ping pong road that he is fighting for.
In 2009, Fang Bo participated in the World Youth Championships in Colombia. It was the first world stage in his life. Faced with strong opponents from various countries, the Chinese rookie made a name for himself.
He won the team competition, men's doubles, mixed doubles and men's singles with an absolute advantage, completing a legendary "Grand Slam". After the match, his teammates affectionately called him "The Prince of Grand Slams".
For a time, Fang Bo became the most dazzling new star in the Chinese table tennis world.
The next few years were the highlight of Fang Bo's career. He led the Shandong team to win the table tennis championship and also won the first place in many competitions. The wicked hands were at work on the table, and every draw was like the deadliest poison.
Foreign players even jokingly called him the "Chinese Ball Demon". However, Fang Bo himself always looks honest and honest, which is quite a match for that baby face.
In the process of climbing, Fang Bo is also slowly maturing. He was always vigilant that he could not be complacent. In the face of the media's pursuit, he only smiled gently.
The name that the fans cheered for, he remembered it in his heart. Because Fang Bo understands that all these honors are not easy to come by. He had to take it one step at a time, to guard it.
When Fang Bo's career was in full swing, the gloomy clouds of downturn quietly came. Against a strong national team rival, his record plummeted. The original proud forehand smash is now often in the corner where the opponent can't see.
For a while, Fang Bo's whole person fell into an unprecedented confusion. He began to question himself if all the glory of those years was just the vigor brought about by his youthful age.
He even struggled to sleep late at night, and his mind was full of cluttered thoughts.
How many days and nights have been spent in torment. Fang Bo sat silently in the locker room alone, letting tears flow into his palms. It wasn't until a familiar big hand patted him on the shoulder that Fang Bo raised his head slightly, and saw that the person standing in front of him was the teacher who had brought him to the beginning back then.
"Son, it is the norm to fall on the road to success, and only when the mentality collapses is it called a real failure!"
This sentence was like a heavy hammer, and it woke Fang Bo up fiercely. He wiped away his tears and regained his confidence. Because Fang Bo knew that he was still the teenager who dreamed of becoming a table tennis player, and the figure of sweating on the table was the proudest memory in his life.
In the second half of 2014, the ITTF decided to replace the plastic balls. This news is undoubtedly huge good news for Fang Bo, who has fallen into a trough. Because the characteristics of the new ball are more suitable for his consistently sharp forehand smash.
With the rekindled fighting spirit, Fang Bo made brilliant achievements in this period. He defeated Zhang Jike and many other teammates in many selection matches, and finally successfully selected for the national team squad for next year's World Cup.
Fang Bo also proved once again that he is still the rising star of national table tennis.
In 2015, 23-year-old Fang Bo went to Suzhou to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships. He made it all the way to the finals, defeating teammates Zhang Jike and Fan Zhendong successively. At the same time, Ma Long defeated Wang Hao in the semifinals on the other side.
The old and the new alternate, and the duel between the rookie and the seniors is long overdue.
At noon on the day of the finals, Fang Bo came to the small garden behind the hotel alone. He closed his eyes and calmed his mind as much as he could. Because he knew that this would probably be the most important battle of his life.
Fang Bo will not easily let go of any opportunity to prove himself.
In the afternoon of the same day, the battle of the best-of-five system officially began. In the end, Fang Bo lost 2-3 to Ma Long, but he was already extremely gratified. At the age of 23, he stood at the center of the stage of the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time.
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, the new national team coaching staff made a surprising personnel arrangement - the original main coach Xiao Zhan was transferred, and Fang Bo, who had excellent results, was not focused on training by the new coach.
For a while, Fang Bo fell into a trough again. He even began to wonder if his position in the national team was already in jeopardy. Because Fang Bo understands that in this team that needs to be constantly injected with fresh blood, it is difficult for veterans to be reused.
Just when Fang Bo was in great distress, the national team made a decision - to send him and his teammate Yan An to leave their homeland and go to foreign leagues to continue training. This is undoubtedly another major life choice for Fang Bo.
To go or to stay? The answer doesn't seem clear.
A phone call with his mentor Xiao Zhan resolved the confusion in Fang Bo's heart. He began to understand that the road of life is never easy. And the real test of a person is whether he can still stick to his original intention when adversity comes.
In the fall of 2018, Fang Bo and Yan An came to a foreign city. Here, they will begin a new journey. When they first arrived in this country, the two were like two headless flies.
Unfamiliar with the language makes them face all kinds of obstacles in the most basic life.
Fortunately, table tennis, an international sport, made Fang Bo experience a long-lost sense of intimacy during training and communication. Although in the coming days, adaptation will not happen overnight.
But he believes that he will slowly integrate into this strange and welcoming country.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, Fang Bo has been living abroad for three years. In 2021, as a member of the national team's logistics, he came to the Tokyo Olympics with the team. On the streets of a foreign land, Fang Bo had mixed feelings in his heart.
One day, a video call request from his phone interrupted his memories. Fang Bo pressed the answer with some doubts, and what caught his eye was the bright smiling face of his childhood sweetheart Chen Meng.
"Hey, Brother Bo, do you want me?" Suddenly, the two chatted like a mountain.
"Hahaha, remember remember! I went, I was found by the coach, and I was stunned to run ten laps of the playground......"
Sentences of the past evoked too many unforgettable memories of Fang Bo. He and Chen Meng are like a pair of good "childhood sweethearts". Whether they live or die, they will always cheer each other on.
The moment he hung up the video, Fang Bo was distracted for a long time. He began to think about life and the future. Perhaps, his choice back then was not wrong.
Just like this Olympic journey, he is far away from home, but he feels the warmth of friendship that lasts forever.
The more middle-aged people are, the more lonely they become, but Fang Bo knows that there are still people in this world who understand him. I understand the young man who doesn't speak of martial arts but has extraordinary blood, and understands the soul burning on the table.
That's enough.