7 big players return to national table tennis: Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen are sparring partners to hit 5 gold medals in the Paris Olympics

Entering 2024, the national table tennis first team has a heavy task of competition, including the Busan World Table Tennis Championships and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The training camp will be carried out at the Hainan base that the national table tennis players are familiar with, and the old national players who have returned to the national team are Yan An, Fang Bo, Zhou Yu, Zhang Chao, Matt, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, etc., each of these seniors has different characteristics, and will help the current main force to solve various problems.

Among these former national players, Yan An, Fang Bo, and Zhou Yu are the 92 generation, and the three of them have certain strength in singles and doubles, and Zhang Chao is the coach of the Guangdong team and Lin Gaoyuan's mentor.

Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen are the most popular predecessors, these two have represented an era of national table tennis, Xu Xin was a member of the three musketeers at his peak, his partner Ma Long and Zhang Jike won the gold medal in all men's table tennis events at the 2016 Rio Olympics, in 2019, when Zhang Jike faded out of the first team and Ma Long returned from injury in a bad state, Xu Xin supported the national table tennis that year and hit the shoulder with a serious injury. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Xu Xin once again represented the national table tennis and won a men's team gold medal and a mixed doubles silver medal.

Liu Shiwen is the former world No. 1 in women's singles, or a five-time World Cup champion, won a double-digit World Series title, and after fading out of the first team, Liu Shiwen was also elected as the president of the ITTF Athletes' Commission, becoming a leader to continue and table tennis stories.

Since April 2022, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen have not participated in international competitions, and only participated in domestic competitions during this period, such as the Table Tennis Super League, and they have a lot of experience and insights as seniors, and I believe they can help the current national table tennis players become stronger.

Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen have regrets, they lost to Japan's Misei Ito and Mizutani Hayabusa in the mixed doubles final of the Tokyo Olympics, resulting in the national table tennis failed to win all 5 gold medals, and also let the first Olympic table tennis mixed doubles gold medal was won by the Japanese team. Now that Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen have faded out of the national team, they will do their best to help Sun Yingsha, Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong and Kuo Man train for the mixed doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics, which is an alternative dream.

If there is a war, the recall must be returned, this is the history and culture of the national table tennis, all athletes will contribute to the development of the national table tennis, whether active or retired, and expect them to work together to achieve the expected goals.