Recently, the Sports Department of Xinhua News Agency selected the top ten Chinese athletes in 2023, the only person selected in the Chinese national table tennis team, but it is surprising, after all, Wang Chuqin did not win the most valuable World Table Tennis Championships men's singles championship in 2023, and how did he cross the more outstanding Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha to be selected for the award?
According to the reasons for the selection, Wang Chuqin became the first table tennis player to win four gold medals in men's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and men's team at the same Asian Games in the Hangzhou Asian Games. In addition, he helped the national table tennis regain the men's doubles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban and defended the mixed doubles title. Although Wang Chuqin is indeed excellent in winning these honors, and winning in the field of table tennis is definitely an all-rounder, the highest individual honor in table tennis belongs to the "Grand Slam", Wang Chuqin lost to Fan Zhendong in the single World Table Tennis Championships and missed the men's singles championship, which also means that he missed the Grand Slam in advance this cycle!
After the selection of the top 10 athletes in China, the International Sports Journalists Association also announced their selection of the best male and female athletes of 2023. Among them, Chinese table tennis player Sun Yingsha ranked 21st in the list of female athletes, and Fan Zhendong ranked 33rd in the men's list. It is reported that the award was voted for by a panel of 405 journalists from 107 countries and regions.
Judging from the gold content of the two awards, the little fat Fan Zhendong and the little devil Sun Yingsha, who won the men's and women's singles championships of the World Table Tennis Championships, are two people with more gold content, and it is easier for them to enter the international vision. The embarrassing thing is that even if Wang Chuqin wins four championships in the Asian Games and has many World Table Tennis Championships championships, he cannot be compared with a World Table Tennis Championships singles champion, this is the biggest reality in the world table tennis world, no one is blind!
Although Wang Chuqin is excellent, he is not the first brother in the Chinese table tennis world, and he is currently ranked second in the world, and he has not won a single championship in the three major competitions (he has not participated in the Olympic Games so far), which is a serious disadvantage compared with Fan Zhendong! Of course, there is no doubt that in the next Olympic cycle, Wang Chuqin will definitely be the more dominant. The latitude of the Xinhua News Agency's selection is more concerned about Wang Chuqin's popularity and rapid progress in the past year, but he doesn't seem to be able to afford the word "best".
This year is the year of the Paris Olympics, and the single table tennis World Cup will also be restarted, can Wang Chuqin win both championships in these two competitions? At present, Fan Zhendong's desire to strive for the "Grand Slam" is obviously more sufficient, one is the "best" athlete selected by the national table tennis in China, and the other is also the best male player selected by the national table tennis in the world, and their competition is about to enter the most intense stage, so who are you more optimistic about?