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Preface
When it comes to table tennis celebrities, Deng Yaping, Zhang Yining, Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui and other veteran celebrities will unconsciously appear in their minds.
But who knew that these table tennis players with outstanding records on the field would take Liang Lizhen as their idol.
Who is Liang Lizhen?
How can she occupy the hearts of these table tennis celebrities and become their idols?
The development of table tennis in China
Table tennis is a sport with feelings for the Chinese people, and it is also the pride of the Chinese people.
It is not only a sport for all ages, but also a sport that can make China famous internationally.
But the origins of the sport actually came from the United Kingdom.
At the end of the 19th century, tennis was popular in Europe, but due to the constraints of the venue and weather, many British university students moved tennis indoors, using the dining table as a table, the desk as a net, and parchment paper as a racket, playing around on the dining table.
In 1890, British athletes brought back some celluloid balls from the United States as toys for use in table tennis.
Later, several naval officers stationed in India accidentally found it very exciting to play netizens on a small table, so they switched to solid rubber instead of a solid ball with little elasticity, and then changed to a hollow plastic ball, and replaced the ace with a wooden board, and the table tennis game on the table was born.
It was not until 1926 that the establishment of the International Table Tennis Federation made table tennis a worldwide sport.
Table tennis was introduced to China in 1904, but unfortunately the Chinese people at that time did not have such a preference for table tennis.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, everything was in ruins, and the country put forward a slogan "rejuvenating the country through sports", and table tennis was promoted under such a slogan.
Table tennis is not limited by the venue, weather, and does not pick people, and it is simple and easy to promote, and does not require too much equipment, and it is a sport suitable for all ages.
At that time, China was also in urgent need of a sports that could be mastered and made a name for itself in the world.
And Liang Lizhen grew up in this background.
A stumbling career
Guangzhou has been in an open and compatible state in history, which is also the state that Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou Energy have maintained in line with international standards all year round.
Liang Lizhen was born in Guangzhou, where she received the most advanced education and an open mind.
Liang Lizhen, who is in primary school, can not only learn Xi cultural knowledge, but also learn Xi swimming.
Because the principal at that time attached great importance to swimming, he required everyone in the school to know how to swim, and also established a school swimming team.
A project that is respected by the school, Liang Lizhen naturally does not want to fall behind.
But even though she trained hard, every time she competed in the school competition, her results were not satisfactory.
Once, the physical education teacher called her into the office: "Have you noticed that every time you swim in a competition, you are the first to go into the water and the last to come out?"
Hearing the teacher's questioning, Liang Lizhen felt even more sad.
I thought the teacher would be chattering, but I didn't expect him to say, "This shows that you are not a strength type, but you react quickly." ”
After that, the teacher suggested that Liang Lizhen choose table tennis.
After listening to the teacher's analysis, Liang Lizhen felt that it was very reasonable, so he decided to work table tennis.
In 1957, under the recommendation of her teacher, Liang Lizhen entered Guangzhou No. 1 Youth Amateur Sports School, specializing in table tennis, but unfortunately her skills were too poor, and the teacher could only let her shoot the ball against the wall.
But this did not discourage Liang Lizhen's enthusiasm, but she became more and more frustrated, and her love for table tennis increased day by day.
At the end of the year, a teammate was picked up by the national player Zhuang Guofu, which encouraged Liang Lizhen, and she was determined to have the opportunity to enter the national team.
As the saying goes: the most "water" is often the one with the most room for improvement, and it is also the fastest.
In the second year of training, Liang Lizhen's ball skills have improved greatly, allowing her to successfully enter the provincial training team.
In 1960, Liang Lizhen was selected into the training area of the five central and southern provinces established by the World Table Tennis Championships.
At that time, there were more than 50 people participating in the training, and Liang Lizhen's level was at the bottom, although she wanted to participate in the competition, but she was worried that her results would hold the team back.
But a person's eyes that like one thing will not deceive, whenever she sees a table tennis ball, Liang Lizhen's eyes will shine.
At that time, there was an eldest sister in Hunan in the team who saw Liang Lizhen's obsessive eyes on table tennis, and couldn't help but want to help her improve her skills.
So he used his spare time to guide Liang Lizhen, and often encouraged her to be confident.
With the help of well-wishers, Liang Lizhen didn't want to be the "Adou who couldn't be helped".
So she got up at 5 o'clock every day for secret training, and it was not until she practiced Xi for two hours that she would gather with the whole army again and start normal daily training.
In the second month, Liang Lizhen's goal can be described as "changing with each passing day".
By the third month, she had already managed to win a top eight result among these masters.
It was with the help of well-wishers and Liang Lizhen's perseverance that she finally entered the national team as she wished.
The ups and downs of the years of the national hand
In 1960, 15-year-old Liang Lizhen entered the national team.
At that time, the conditions were very difficult, and the salary of national athletes was not as good as it is now, but Liang Lizhen still struggled for the cause she loved.
The training of getting up early and greedy for darkness every day, and the long-term high-intensity muscle training, make everyone's body unbearable, and even sometimes when you wake up, the tense muscles become a problem.
But when it came to the training ground, everyone was still working hard, just hoping for a good result in the international arena.
After a year of training, Liang Lizhen participated in the 26th World Table Tennis Championships, where she partnered with Han Yuzhen and finally defeated her Japanese opponent and won the third place.
Such results are already very good for Liang Lizhen, who is participating in the competition for the first time.
thought that a new star would rise, but unfortunately in the next game, the Chinese women's team has been losing miserably.
In the case that the men's team and men's singles can win the championship, the women's team and women's singles are a mess, and the mixed doubles are also defeated.
This situation has put a lot of pressure on the Chinese women's team, and the Chinese people's call for the rise of the Chinese women's team is getting louder and louder.
In this regard, the national team adjusted its strategy and sent China's first world champion Rong Guotuan as the coach of the women's team.
The arrival of Rong Guotuan gave the Chinese women's team a lot of confidence, and Liang Lizhen also secretly decided that she must train hard and not lose face in front of her idols.
Therefore, in the training mode of "men helping women" of the Rongguo League, the women's team is constantly improving its skills under the continuous game of excellent opponents.
In addition to technology, Rong Guotuan focuses more on the psychological guidance of players.
If a person does not have the belief of winning and does not have a strong psychological quality, when playing with a master, the poor psychological quality will inevitably fall first.
This made Liang Lizhen deeply inspired.
In 1965, at the 28th World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese women's team became a blockbuster, with Liang Lizhen as the main force, and won the first women's table tennis world team championship for China, fulfilling her dream of becoming a world champion.
Since then, Liang Lizhen has been putting her energy into her favorite table tennis career, and the word "table tennis" has been integrated into her blood.
Promote the cause of table tennis
You must know that the current environment is very friendly to sports, especially table tennis, which has a good national foundation.
And those table tennis celebrities also have a high degree of nationality and enjoy extremely high treatment.
But in the 60s and 70s, the soil of China's table tennis was not so good, and Liang Lizhen used her meager strength to promote it.
In 1973, Liang Lizhen retired from the national team and returned to her hometown in Guangdong, and since then, she has focused on promoting and popularizing table tennis.
And many Guangdong citizens, because Liang Lizhen likes table tennis, started table tennis.
In 1980, Liang Lizhen became the deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Commission, focusing on table tennis and mass sports.
She devotes all her energy and time to table tennis, but the only regret that makes her not able to stand on a bigger stage to participate in table tennis.
In 1985, Liang Lizhen stumbled upon a sport specifically for veterans that only cost $50 to participate.
So Liang Lizhen happily went to Canada to participate in the "World Veterans Games" and won the championship in one fell swoop.
Liang Lizhen used her power to prove to the world that she is not old.
In 2005, Liang Lizhen organized a traveling exhibition with the theme of "50 Years of Chinese Table Tennis", so that people from all over the world can have a deeper understanding of table tennis.
Write at the end
The so-called: the predecessors planted trees and the later people enjoyed the shade.
A sport has grown from nothing, from existence to prosperity, and in between is the effort of several generations.
And Liang Lizhen is undoubtedly the one who planted the tree, and her contribution to table tennis cannot be erased.
Outside of her table tennis career, she also walks around with her camera to record the most beautiful moments.
And Liang Lizhen's love for photography is still the camera given by others when she went abroad to participate in the competition before, and when she saw the camera for the first time, she was very excited, and when she saw the camera taking pictures and keeping the beautiful moments, she fell in love with photography.
For Liang Lizhen, the camera is not only a photo, but also a memory.
For the sake of table tennis, Liang Lizhen has never married and had children in her life.
In her later years, she left a lot of stubborn illnesses in her body due to excessive training in her early years.
In order not to cause trouble to the country, she took the initiative to live in a nursing home.
But she didn't feel alone.
After entering the nursing home, she will still take the lead in organizing everyone to play table tennis, raise flowers, and take pictures, so that everyone will not feel lonely in their later years.
But it was such a person who thought about others everywhere that left the world without saying a word.
On Chinese New Year's Eve in 2017, everyone did not wait for Liang Lizhen, who was usually the most active, and just when everyone was confused, someone broke into Liang Lizhen's room.
At this time, everyone found out that 72-year-old Liang Lizhen had quietly left.
This female national player who has devoted her life to the career of table tennis, this person who has brought a lot of comfort to people, actually quietly left on Chinese New Year's Eve.
But her deeds will be remembered forever by the world.
Resources:
Liang Lizhen: Baidu Encyclopedia
Xi'an Civilization broadcast "World Women's Table Tennis Champion Liang Lizhen: Unmarried in her life, living alone in a nursing home in her later years, and died alone on Chinese New Year's Eve"
People's Daily Online "Guangzhou's first table tennis world champion Liang Lizhen died of illness at the age of 72"