A few days ago, Yuan Licen, one of the main players of the national table tennis men's team, was eliminated from the WTT Star Challenge Doha Qualifying Tournament, which caused an uproar in the outside world. In the third round of men's singles, Yuan Licen and South Korea's Zhao Dacheng fought fiercely for four games, and finally lost with a big score of 1-3, unexpectedly missing the men's singles main match! It is worth mentioning that in the men's doubles final of the WTT Doha men's finals that ended not long ago, Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng defeated teammates Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong to win the championship for the first time.
Originally, fans thought that Yuan Licen would refresh his best record again in the Star Challenge, but he was eliminated in the qualifying round! Some netizens said that in fact, this is Yuan Licen's normal level, after winning the men's doubles championship in the finals, everyone's expectations for him are too high. Some fans also pointed out that although it was a qualifying match, the strength of the opponent Zhao Dacheng was not weak, and Yuan Licen's singles did not have an absolute advantage, and the loss result was acceptable. Some netizens believe that in the final analysis, there is a problem with the echelon construction of the national table tennis men's team!
In 2015, the results have been tepid
Born in 2000, Yuan Licen is one of the members of the Chinese table tennis team, and he won the men's singles championship of the National Junior Table Tennis Championship in 2015, which made the coaching staff shine. During the Tokyo Olympic cycle, Yuan Licen was at a disadvantage in the competition with Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and others, and his results in international competitions were relatively average. He has been paired with Ma Long in the men's doubles competition, but there is still a certain gap between his individual hard power and consistency in the tournament and the world's top players. At the 2022 WTT Regular Challenge Doha Station, Yuan Licen made a splash and won the men's singles championship with a complete victory.
Last season, he partnered with Lin Shidong to win the men's doubles gold medal at the WTT Challenger Zagreb. In the previous 2024 WTT men's finals, Yuan Licen and Lin Shidong went all the way from the bottom half of the region to the final, helping the Chinese team successfully win the men's doubles championship and runner-up. In the WTT Star Challenge held in Doha, the Chinese team still sent a full main lineup. In addition to Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long, Lin Shidong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan and Zhou Qihao also qualified, while Yuan Licen had to start from the qualifying round.
In the first round, Yuan Licen defeated Belgium's Larsenforss with a big score of 3-0. In the second round of the qualifying round, Yuan Licen and Yang Ziyi of the Chinese Taipei team fought five games, and Yuan Licen staged a big reversal after falling behind 0-2, and finally won three games in a row. In the third round, Yuan Licen's opponent was South Korean player Zhao Dacheng. Throughout the game, the two played inextricably at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and Yuan Licen was slightly inferior in the grasp of key points, and finally lost to the opponent 1-3, regretting that he missed the men's singles main draw. After the game, the echelon construction of the national table tennis men's team became the focus of discussion. What do you think?
(Shopkeeper Luo)