Three consecutive championships in the round of 16 in Europe, a medal at the World Team Championships in Busan, and a veteran of the Olympic Games..... All these dreams have lost all hope because of an earring. Han Ying, the 41-year-old German women's table tennis sister, in the women's singles one-sixteenth final of the WTT Doha Star Challenge, all her dreams came to an abrupt end because of an ear stud dropped by other athletes on the court!
In the women's singles one-sixteenth final of the Doha Star Challenge, Germany's first sister Han Ying played against South Korea's first sister Tian Zhixi, and the score was 2-2 in the first four games. Han Ying led 7-1 in the deciding game, and was about to cut the ball when she greeted Tian Zhixi, but suddenly saw a bulge on the ground, and injured her foot when she subconsciously made an evasive action, and finally had to choose to retire. Later, the team doctor judged that the Achilles tendon ruptured and required surgery, and the postoperative recovery period was 6 months.
I never expected Han Ying to have such a serious injury, and in the arena of Doha stars, Han Ying may still be thinking about defeating Tian Zhixi and entering the top 16 of women's singles, may still be thinking about participating in the top 16 of Europe after returning to China and winning three consecutive championships, may still be thinking about representing the German team in the World Team Championships in Busan, winning a medal for the team as the first sister of the women's team, and may still be thinking about going to the Paris Olympics to compete.
Injured in Doha
She participated in the Rio Olympics and was swept by Ding Ning, the former sister of national table tennis, and stopped in the quarterfinals, and participated in the Tokyo Olympics, and was swept by Sun Yingsha, the national table tennis superstar at the time, and stopped in the quarterfinals. But she helped Germany win the Olympic women's team silver medal and finish on the podium.
Born in 1983 in Liaoning, China, Han Ying is a table tennis chipper, she has solid basic skills and good footwork, and because the chipping style is relatively rare, it has attracted the attention of the majority of fans.
Han Ying's record has always been very good, her ranking in the ITTF standings is as high as 7th in the world, and in the latest rankings, Han Ying ranks 8th in the world with 2030 points, which is the highest-ranked player in the foreign association except for Hina Hayada of the Japan Table Tennis Association.
On the European stage, Han Ying is a well-deserved queen.
She has won the European Games table tennis women's team championship, the 2022 and 2023 table tennis European round of 16 women's singles champion (2 consecutive titles), the European Games table tennis women's singles runner-up, mixed doubles champion.
On the international stage, she was runner-up in the women's singles at the Korea Open Table Tennis Open in June 2015 and runner-up in the women's singles at the WTT Challenger Antalya in October 2023.
Han Ying plays ball, with a very realistic and helpless purpose, that is, to make money. Han Ying's husband is named Lei Yang, who used to be a disciple of the current national table tennis head coach Li Falcon, and now serves as the coach of the men's singles brother Ocharov in Germany.
Mr. and Mrs. Onne
The couple lives in Germany, because Han Ying has poor German and can only use some simple daily language, and her husband's salary is not high as a sparring coach. Therefore, Han Ying's purpose of playing ball is very simple, that is, to earn money to support her family and share the pressure of her husband Lei Yang.
Playing abroad is not as glamorous as everyone thinks. Because the players of foreign associations play ball, all the expenses need to be borne by themselves, such as round-trip air tickets, accommodation and board costs, as well as coaches and sparring partners hired by themselves, etc., all need to be paid out of their own pockets.
Therefore, the quality of the player's performance is very important, and the amount of prize money is also very important, you can see how much Han Ying's shoes on the soles of her feet are worn out when she is injured and sits on the ground in the Doha Star Challenge, and they have become smooth.
The shoes on the soles of the feet have long been ground to smoothness
After the injury, Han Ying has now returned to Germany for surgery, and fortunately, the operation was very successful. And Han Ying's mentality is quite good, which should help her physical condition recover.
She also posted her current status in a timely manner through social platforms, and she thanked all her friends and fans who cared about her, saying that she is in good shape at the moment, but may miss a lot of games. She said that she just took advantage of the period of recuperation to strengthen her German learning and improve her German skills.
South Korea's first sister Tian Zhixi felt very guilty about Han Ying's injury, and left a message under Han Ying's social platform dynamics: You can scold me as much as you want, it's all my fault. And Han Ying also responded to Tian Zhixi very warmly, hoping that she didn't have to take it to heart, injury is inevitable for athletes.
Han Ying's social platform dynamics
Indeed, as an athlete, because of high-intensity training and competition, it is easy to cause physical injuries due to excessive consumption of physical functions. Some athletes will fall quickly due to injury, and some athletes can quickly return to their pre-injury state and even surpass themselves through active treatment and self-psychological adjustment.
Among the athletes we are familiar with, the national table tennis twin star "Kelong" has suffered serious injuries.
Zhang Jike relied on violent twisting and counterspin to win the Grand Slam in 445 days, making him the shortest player in the history of table tennis to win the Grand Slam. But behind his dazzling results, there are many scars in his body, because of the decline in injury status, he withdrew from international competitions early, leaving fans with endless sighs.
Kelon Twins
As one of the twin stars, the imperial destruction dragon, and the hexagonal warrior of the national table tennis captain, Ma Long also suffered a knee injury before the Tokyo Olympics, which greatly affected his competitive state, and Ma Long also struggled with retirement and insisting on playing table tennis.
In the end, he chose to undergo surgery for the love of table tennis in his heart. He gave himself a bald haircut and hoped that everything would start all over again. In the end, Ma Long, who was self-disciplined and self-reliant, returned from healing after his injury, achieving a double-circle grand slam that was unprecedented in the history of table tennis and a rare one!
In an Olympic year, all athletes look forward to participating in the Olympic Games, because the Olympic Games, which are held only once every four years, are not to be missed by an athlete. Athletes eat the rice of youth, and the peak period is generally very short, and it is very difficult to miss an Olympic Games, and want to maintain a high level of competition and participate in another Olympic Games to win the championship.
Fan Zhendong, who is now ranked No. 1 in the men's singles world, comforted him in an interview with reporters and said, "It's okay, you are still young, you can wait for another 2 years", and once said: I don't have many two years to waste.
Fan Zhendong
It can be seen that every athlete attaches great importance to their athletic lifespan, and they really can't afford to get hurt.
Han Ying's injury at the WTT Doha Star Challenge has also triggered a denunciation from the majority of fans about the ITTF schedule! For a long time, the ITTF's intensive event schedule and tight schedule have often been criticized by fans.
Because some athletes not only participate in singles, but also participate in doubles and mixed doubles competitions, Wang Chuqin once reached the high intensity of five competitions a day, which paralyzed Wang Chuqin.
Moreover, many athletes have just finished the last competition, and before they have time to rest, they start to compete in the next event non-stop.
It may be that for some athletes who only participate in a single event, or those who are eliminated early in the first round, these events have no impact on them. But for the players of national table tennis, it is very hurtful.
Wang Chuqin
Because they often don't know the winner until the final, and then the next tournament comes one after another.
This has led to some national table tennis players having to choose to give up some competitions and only try their best to compete for more important events, but this choice is contrary to the original intention of the ITTF. Therefore, the majority of athletes and fans are calling on the ITTF to improve the density and intensity of the event schedule.
And we, the majority of fans, should also be rational about athletes who choose to give up some games, or choose not to participate in some games. Sometimes, when you see their tired bodies, dragging their suitcases, and a little listless, don't blame them, if they are not really tired, who wants to make such a bad impression?
On the other hand, the intensive event schedule and number of events have led to the organizers not being able to clean the venue in time. Han Ying's injury was due to the fact that the organizers did not clean the field in time, resulting in other athletes' earrings remaining on the field. And when we watched the Doha Star Challenge, we often found that the stickers on the ground tripped over the shoes of the athletes, causing the game to be interrupted.
An accident caused by an earring
In a game in Tokyo, Fan Zhendong slipped on the field because the rubber was too poor to save the ball, but fortunately he was not injured at the time, but it also scared the coaching staff and fans out of a cold sweat.
In addition, due to the tight schedule, we found that the venue in Doha was extremely rudimentary and the lighting was poor, which greatly affected the look and feel of the game and the performance of the athletes. In fact, this aspect is contrary to the original intention of arranging the competition, and it is also unreasonable, and the strength of the athletes cannot be fully brought into play, and the effect of sportsmanship cannot be achieved.
And this time Han Ying's injury was also unexpectedly serious. At first, Han Ying thought that she was just an ankle or a sprained foot muscle, but she didn't expect that it was a ruptured Achilles tendon in her foot. And when the German Table Tennis Association finally announced it, it also caused an uproar, because this was unexpected by everyone.
After all, the rupture of the Achilles tendon in the foot usually occurs in high-intensity competitive competitions, and it is relatively rare for such injuries to occur in table tennis. Most of the time it takes place in high-intensity matches such as basketball and soccer matches.
Yao
NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant, Durant and Yao Ming have suffered ruptured Achilles tendons. They returned from treatment and their form was severely affected because their bounce ability was not as good as before. Yao Ming was forced to choose to retire early and end his basketball career.
Han Ying gives the impression that she has always been tall, with a pair of long legs running all over the court, steadily chipping the ball, and scoring steadily. I vaguely remember that in her match with Sun Yingsha last year, when she was leading 2-0, she was reversed by Sun Yingsha in three games in a row, and she made a small mistake in the game and slapped herself as a punishment.
Han Ying, such a dedicated and lovely German female table tennis sister, if her entire table tennis career is ruined because of the appearance of an earring, I think it will be a regret and loss for the entire ITTF. We sincerely hope that Han Ying can recover her health as soon as possible and return to the court, and we look forward to seeing those long legs again, with the silver ball flying on the court, steady offense and defense!
Bless Han Ying!
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