In the WTT Doha Men's Finals, the national table tennis occupies three places in the semifinals, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin and Lin Gaoyuan reached the semifinals, and the other place is occupied by Qiu Dang. Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin showed strong momentum in the Paris Olympic cycle. There is no suspense for Fan Zhendong to occupy an Olympic men's singles spot. In the other men's singles spot, Wang Chuqin showed strong competitiveness. If Grand Slam champion Malone can't get back to his peak form in a series of future tournaments, he may only be able to compete for an Olympic team spot.
Lin Gaoyuan's form has rebounded, and both he and Liang Jingkun are hoping to compete for a team spot, and if they don't get a spot as an Olympic main player, Lin Gaoyuan will also compete for an Olympic P card player and become the first substitute at the Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics, Wang Manyu was the first women's table tennis substitute, and when Liu Shiwen was injured, she participated in the women's team competition as a substitute and became the Olympic champion.
Wang Chuqin now has a great opportunity to sit in the world No. 2 for a long time in 2023. And, crucially, he has a high outside win rate, especially now that he has an overwhelming advantage against Tomokazu Zhangmoto. At present, the most certain players in the national table tennis against Zhang Benzhihe are not Fan Zhendong and Ma Long, nor Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong, but Wang Chuqin.
In the quarterfinals of the WTT Men's Finals, Wang Chuqin swept Tomokazu Zhang 3-0, 12-10 in the first game, 11-8 in the second game, and 11-6 in the third game. This is Wang Chuqin's 3-game winning streak against Tomokazu Zhang. In this Olympic cycle, Wang Chuqin also lost to Zhang Benzhihe in the singles competition, but then he was ruthless and won consecutive victories in the face of Zhang Benzhihe, and it was a big victory.
The probability of Wang Chuqin being selected for the Paris Olympics has become very high. One of the important reasons is that he and Sun Yingsha are the world's No. 1 mixed doubles pair, which means that the national table tennis will most likely let him participate in the Olympic Games.
The question now is whether he will also be allowed to participate in the men's singles competition. Fan Zhendong will almost certainly occupy one men's singles spot, and the other spot will be Wang Chuqin or Ma Long?
If Wang Chuqin continues his hot performance in the men's singles competition, he can really beat Ma Long to get a men's singles place, so as to play three at the Paris Olympics, and Sun Yingsha is likely to play three at the Paris Olympics.
Ma Long's position in the Paris Olympics is still unstable, facing the impact of Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan. Of course, objectively speaking, the probability of his selection is higher than that of Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, after all, the latter two lose more foreign wars.
If Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, and Ma Long are on the main selection list for the Paris Olympics, who will be the first substitute? Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan will compete fiercely. Lin Gaoyuan has fallen into a trough in the past two years, but in this finals, he beat Ma Long to reach the semifinals, while Liang Jingkun was defeated by Qiu Dang and lost the foreign war. Lin Gaoyuan ushered in a strong recovery.