At present, the main force of national table tennis has left for South Korea to participate in the competition in Incheon. Among all the national table tennis players, I believe everyone is most concerned about Fan Zhendong. As the first brother of national table tennis after Ma Long, he has not won the singles championship for 8 months, which is simply incredible for Fan Zhendong. The Paris Olympics are just around the corner, can Chubby regain his former glory?
Injury + retirement, Fan Zhendong's state has been up and down in the past year, and the post-00 players have formed a pinching trend against him.
Fan Zhendong has not won the men's singles title for eight consecutive months since winning the men's singles title at the Ljubljana Star Challenge in July 2023. What is the reason for this? Mainly due to injuries and retirements, Fan Zhendong has not been able to maintain a high level of competitive condition. After Fan Zhendong lost to Wang Chuqin and was the runner-up in the Asian Games last year, Xiaopang's state has not been up. After that, Fan Zhendong withdrew from the competition for the Lanzhou tournament because of a knee injury, and Taiyuan Station did not register, Frankfurt Station Fan Zhendong lost 1-3 to Li Shangzhu, mixed team World Cup Fan Zhendong lost to Zhang Benzhihe 1-2, and lost to Wang Chuqin 0-4 in the finals.
In the 2024 Doha Stars Match, Fan Zhendong was in the game against Lin Shidong, and Xiaopang withdrew halfway through the game due to a shoulder injury. You can take a look at Fan Zhendong's intermittent performance in these games, it's not that Dong Ge can't win these opponents, knee injuries and shoulder injuries have affected his training and competitive state. As a veteran of the table tennis world, Fan Zhendong is known for his hard-hitting style of play. Behind the hard hit, it is the high quality of the veneer, and the premise of the high quality of the veneer is that the force is sufficient, which is relatively harmful and wear to the body. In particular, Fan Zhendong habitually squats and pulls back, and the weight of the whole body is pressed on the knee joint.
Fan Zhendong went all the way and finally climbed over the mountain of Ma Long. However, just like Chen Meng, after winning the Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng thought that his time was coming. Who would have thought that the growth rate of the new generation such as Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu was completely beyond Chen Meng's expectations. Since the Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng has only had one singles championship in his account. The situation faced by Fan Zhendong is also somewhat similar, Wang Chuqin, Lin Yunru, Lebrun brothers, Zhang Benzhihe, including 16-year-old Matsushima Terukor, these post-00s players have a huge impact on Fan Zhendong. The quality of the chubby veneer is high, but at the moment, who is not of high quality among these post-00s?
Fan Zhendong had no respite in three consecutive races, and he had to rotate to grab points before the Olympics.
Some fans also said: Can Fan Zhendong be allowed to rest and recuperate, control his injury, and adjust his condition? The answer is: I can't stop at all! After the Singapore station, Wang Chuqin has risen to the world's No. 1 level, and his Olympic points have also surpassed Fan Zhendong. Before the Paris Olympics, Fan Zhendong was going to grab points in the three tournaments of Incheon, Macau World Cup, and Saudi Arabia Grand Slam. Especially the last two competitions, one has 1,500 points and the other has 2,000 points. Dong Ge wants to stop, train systematically, and resume his competitive state, but time is not allowed.
The game does not consider whether you have an injury or not, and even the opponent still wants you to have an injury, for Fan Zhendong, at the moment, he can only rely on the game to adjust his condition. In the pinnacle battle of men's singles at the Tokyo Olympics, Fan Zhendong was the best chance to defeat Ma Long to win the Olympic men's singles championship, and Wang Chuqin had not yet risen at that time. However, history cannot be rewritten, if Dong Ge can't win the men's singles championship again at the Paris Olympics, then with the growth of age and injuries, he does not have too obvious advantages against the post-00s.
I hope Fan Zhendong can play a momentum in Incheon, regain his strength, and blow the horn to Paris with a men's singles championship. Breaking the 8-month championship drought, fans are looking forward to Dongko's performance in Incheon. What do you think of Fan Zhendong's state in the past year? Welcome to leave a message and discuss, thank you for reading!