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The Chinese national table tennis team, the overlord of the table tennis world, has always been a place of glory that many athletes dream of. However, on this star-studded stage, every athlete needs to go through relentless competition and tough challenges. The news of the 22-year-old Wu Yangchen's announcement of his retirement from the national team once again pushed the fierce competition environment within the national table tennis into the public eye.
Wu Yangchen's sentence "It's my six years" posted on social media shows the bitterness and hardship of her experience in the national table tennis team. The comments of He Zhuojia and Liu Weishan of the same team not only expressed their encouragement and support for Wu Yangchen, but also reflected the athletes' deep understanding and experience of different stages of their careers.
Wu Yangchen, born in 2002, as a rare straight board player in China, represents the inheritance of this traditional style of play with Qi Fei in the women's team. Straight-board play has become scarce in today's era, and Wu has not been able to fully exploit her competitiveness in singles, despite her success in doubles. In 2023, Wu Yangchen will represent the national table tennis in multiple WTT feeder tournaments, and partner with Qi Fei to win the women's doubles event in Gaia New City, proving her strength and potential in specific fields.
However, Wu Yangchen's achievements are insignificant in the tide of competition within the national table tennis team. She defeated Japan's Miwa Haramoto at WTT Dusse in February 2023, a standout player who went on to become a staple of Japanese table tennis and won multiple medals at the Asian Games. But in less than a year, Zhang Benmeihe's achievements and status have risen rapidly, while Wu Yangchen has to face the fate of quitting the national team, which undoubtedly highlights the reality of fierce competition within national table tennis.
The involution of the national table tennis women's team is particularly serious. Take Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu as examples, these two equally young players have already stood at the top of the world table tennis world. As a post-00 generation, Sun Yingsha is not only ranked No. 1 in the world, but also the women's singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships. Wang Manyu, born in 1999, is already the women's singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships. In this context, it is almost a difficult road for Wu Yangchen and other players to get the main position in the national table tennis team.
Due to the fierce competition within the national table tennis, it is not uncommon for some former national table tennis players to choose to compete for other national teams. South Korea's Tian Zhixi, Luxembourg's Ni Xialian, and Japan's Tomokazu and Miwa Zhangmoto all have different stories behind their backs, but what they all have in common is that they all came out of the cradle of Chinese table tennis and eventually played for other countries.
For many Chinese table tennis players, it is their dream and pursuit to play for their country. However, in such an environment as full of masters as national table tennis, non-main players can often only seek opportunities for international competitions through other channels. In this case, the players chose mostly out of helplessness, but at the same time, they also showed their love and dedication to the sport of table tennis.
In the highly competitive arena of table tennis, every athlete's choice is a turning point in their career. Wu Yangchen's departure is undoubtedly an important decision in her personal career. For her, although she left the big family of national table tennis, the road of table tennis is not over. Whether it is the encouragement of He Zhuojia and Liu Weishan, or the attention of all walks of life, they are telling her that the journey of life has just begun.
Ultimately, Wu's story, and the fierce competition within national table tennis, provides us with an opportunity to reflect on how to find a balance between the harsh realities of competitive sports and the personal development of athletes. Perhaps, this is one of the eternal issues facing the world of sports.