There has never been a shortage of "geniuses" in the history of the Chinese table tennis team, for example, Sun Yingsha, the number one main force of the women's team, has become the world's No. 1 with a leading fault at the age of 24, and she is definitely worthy of a "genius girl".
One of the "genius girls" in Chinese women's table tennis before Sun Yingsha is Liu Shiwen, so who is more talented among the two "genius girls" of these two Chinese women's table tennis eras in different eras.
Today, we will compare Liu Shiwen and Sun Yingsha, two "genius girls" in different eras, from many aspects such as growth and achievements:
One
Liu Shiwen, who was born in 1991, is 33 years old this year, and Sun Yingsha, who was born in 2000, is 24 years old this year.
Liu Shiwen's mother used to be a professional table tennis player, so after the birth of her daughter, she decided to let her daughter inherit her unfinished table tennis dream.
Sun Yingsha's parents are both staff of the local local taxation department, and there are no people engaged in sports among relatives and friends, the reason why Sun Yingsha plays table tennis is entirely because she likes to watch table tennis games on TV when she was a child, and she will learn to swing the racket with athletes, so later when Sun Yingsha was five or six years old, her parents enrolled her in a table tennis interest class, and the reason why her parents did this was not only that Sun Yingsha did like table tennis, but also because they were busy with work at that time and did not have much time to accompany Sun Yingsha。
From the perspective of how to get into table tennis, Liu Shiwen's parents made the decision for her, and Sun Yingsha enrolled her in the training class because she liked her parents.
These two ways can be said to have their own advantages and disadvantages, let's say Liu Shiwen, after she was born, her mother made up her mind to let her practice table tennis, when she first started to learn table tennis, her mother was able to provide her with a lot of help that coaches could not provide, and because she was practicing with her mother, Liu Shiwen must be relaxed in her heart and learn faster.
Of course, it may also backfire, after all, her mother is definitely not as strict as the coach, and at the same time, on the road of Liu Shiwen's growth, her mother's identity as a professional table tennis player can also provide Liu Shiwen with a lot of resources.
For example, when Liu Shiwen was five or six years old, her mother brought her to Coach Zhang Jingqing and asked her to train with Coach Zhang Jingqing, who was also Wang Nan's enlightenment coach.
Later, Coach Zhang Jingqing was poached by Guangzhou Weilun Sports School with a high salary, and Liu Shiwen trained with her mother, but half a year later, her mother found that Liu Shiwen's progress was very slow, so she sent her from Fushun, Liaoning Province to Guangzhou, and let her train with Coach Zhang Jingqing.
If Liu Shiwen's mother is not a professional table tennis player, let's not talk about whether she can be trained with Coach Zhang Jingqing, let's just say that when she found that her progress was slow, she was decisively sent from the Northeast to Guangzhou.
But this method also has a disadvantage, that is, it is not sure whether Liu Shiwen really likes table tennis, after all, it is her mother's request to let her practice table tennis, but judging from the later development, Liu Shiwen should also like table tennis very much in her heart.
Let's talk about Sun Yingsha, neither of her parents is engaged in sports, that is, when she first started practicing table tennis, she couldn't enjoy the same convenience as Liu Shiwen, Liu Shiwen was her mother who planned everything for her, and Sun Yingsha took one step at a time.
It can be said that at that time, although Sun Yingsha really liked table tennis in her heart, the decision of whether to learn table tennis was still in the hands of her parents, it can be said that once there is any problem, maybe Sun Yingsha will not be able to step on the road of table tennis, judging from the later situation, Sun Yingsha's parents still respect their daughter's interests.
But Sun Yingsha's way also has advantages, that is, she practices table tennis completely because she loves it, no matter what hobbies or skills, interest is the most important thing to support to reach the top.
Sun Yingsha enrolled her in the table tennis interest class because she liked her parents, as long as she loves table tennis all the time, she can keep walking on the road of table tennis.
Two
In 2004, 13-year-old Liu Shiwen was selected for the national second team, and a year later, 14-year-old Liu Shiwen entered the national first team.
In 2015, 15-year-old Sun Yingsha entered the national second team, and in 2017, 17-year-old Sun Yingsha entered the national second team.
Liu Shiwen's age when she entered the national second team and the national first team was younger than Sun Yingsha, that is to say, she was in the same age group, and in the eyes of the national table tennis coaching staff, Liu Shiwen's potential was better than Sun Yingsha in the same age group.
In fact, Liu Shiwen, who entered the national second team at the age of 13, is relatively young even in the entire history of the Chinese table tennis team, and may be second only to Guo Yue, who entered the national team at the age of 12, and Guo Yue was once known as the most talented athlete in the history of the Chinese table tennis team.
Of course, just comparing the age of the national team doesn't mean anything, after all, the two are in different periods.
Then let's take a look at the situation of the women's first team when Liu Shiwen was selected for the national first team, the absolute main force of the women's team at that time was still Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, but the rest of the main forces have changed.
At the 2004 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, the Chinese women's table tennis team was participated by Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Li Ju, Niu Jianfeng and Guo Yue.
In the 2006 World Championships in Bremen, Germany, the Chinese women's table tennis was participated by Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Guo Yue, Guo Yan and Li Xiaoxia.
Generally speaking, the five players participating in the World Championships/World Cup team competition are the five main players of national table tennis, and from the perspective of the participants of the World Championships in Doha and the World Championships in Bremen, Guo Yan and Li Xiaoxia replaced Li Ju and Niu Jianfeng as the new main force of the women's team.
Li Ju was the women's doubles champion at the Sydney Olympics, but she chose to retire after the Sydney Olympics, returned in 2003, and later retired after losing the Athens Olympics.
Niu Jianfeng was the No. 3 main force in the women's team for a long time after Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, but after the Athens Olympics, she was plagued by injuries and her strength was no longer what it used to be.
In other words, when Liu Shiwen entered the national team, the Chinese women's table tennis had just experienced a round of main force changes, and Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Guo Yue, Guo Yan, and Li Xiaoxia became the new five main forces of women's table tennis.
There are a total of five Grand Slams in the Chinese table tennis women's team, and there are three of the five main forces in this period, namely Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, and Li Xiaoxia, and Guo Yue is known as the most talented athlete in the history of national table tennis.
Looking at Sun Yingsha when she entered the women's team, the situation of the women's team at that time also underwent a small change.
At the 2016 World Table Tennis Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Chinese women's table tennis team was participated by five players: Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, and Chen Meng.
At the 2018 World Table Tennis Championships in Halmstad, Sweden, the Chinese women's table tennis team was participated by five players: Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, Chen Meng, and Wang Manyu.
From the World Table Tennis Championships in Kuala Lumpur to the World Table Tennis Championships in Halmstad, Wang Manyu replaced Li Xiaoxia to become the new main force of Chinese women's table tennis.
Slightly different from the main changes when Liu Shiwen entered the women's team, Guo Yan and Li Xiaoxia replaced Li Ju and Niu Jianfeng as the new main force of the women's team, but the leaders of the women's team remained the same, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.
But when Sun Yingsha entered the women's team, Wang Manyu replaced Li Xiaoxia as the new main force of the women's team.
In other words, the leaders of women's table tennis at that time changed from Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning to Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen.
Ding Ning is a Grand Slam player, Liu Shiwen's only achievement at that time was the World Cup women's singles championship, although Zhu Yuling was the next generation of successors, but there were no outstanding results at that time, more of a dazzling talent, not to mention Chen Meng, after Sun Yingsha came out, she almost couldn't keep the main position, Wang Manyu was the main force that just emerged, and her age was only one year older than Sun Yingsha.
It can be seen from this that when Sun Yingsha first entered the women's team, the competition was not as big as when Liu Shiwen entered the women's team, after all, Liu Shiwen had to compete with Ding Ning among the young players in addition to competing with the five main forces.
When Sun Yingsha first entered the women's team, except for Ding Ning, the results of the five main forces were not as good as when Liu Shiwen first entered the women's team.
Of course, at that time, Sun Yingsha's only competition was greater than Liu Shiwen's, that is, Wang Manyu had become the main force at the same time, and she had just entered the first team.
Liu Shiwen has been in the leading state at the beginning of the competition with Ding Ning, a member of the same period, which can also show that Liu Shiwen's talent is more than Sun Yingsha at the same age.
Three
In 2009, with the retirement of Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, Liu Shiwen finally entered the main team after five years of entering the national first team. This year, Liu Shiwen was 18 years old.
In 2019, Sun Yingsha entered the main layer of national table tennis one year after entering the national first team, and also directly squeezed out the next successor Zhu Yuling from the main layer, Sun Yingsha was 19 years old this year.
Judging from the age of becoming the main force, Liu Shiwen is still stronger than Sun Yingsha, but from the perspective of the way of becoming the main force, Sun Yingsha is stronger than Liu Shiwen, after all, Liu Shiwen is waiting for Wang Nan and Zhang Yining to retire and enter the main force step by step, while Sun Yingsha directly surpassed Zhu Yuling in the competition and succeeded in grabbing power.
Of course, the reason why this happened was also because Zhu Yuling fell into a trough at that time, but the reason why Sun Yingsha replaced Zhu Yuling and entered the main layer, rather than others, also shows Sun Yingsha's strength at that time.
Liu Shiwen's first major competition after entering the main layer was the 2009 World Cup women's team competition, but the real test for her was the 2010 Moscow World Table Tennis Championships.
This is because in the women's team final of the Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, the then head coach of the women's team temporarily decided to let Liu Shiwen serve as a single, and under normal circumstances, the person who served as a single in the team final of the World Championships was the number one main force of the national team at that time.
But at that time, Liu Shiwen was only the bottom two in the main ranking, and the reason why Shi Zhihao used her was because Liu Shiwen was too talented at that time, and on the other hand, because he didn't like Guo Yue and wanted to train Liu Shiwen to become the new first sister of female table tennis.
If Liu Shiwen was able to withstand the pressure at that time and lead the Chinese women's table tennis team to win the women's team championship at the Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, then her achievements are unimaginable, and it is not impossible to even surpass Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.
After all, after suffering so much, Liu Shiwen still won 20 world championships, second only to Wang Nan and Ding Ning in the history of Chinese women's table tennis.
Sun Yingsha's first major competition after entering the main force was the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, and it was also in the competition for singles places at the World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest that Sun Yingsha squeezed out Zhu Yuling to become the new main force of the women's team.
Sun Yingsha at the World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, in addition to participating in the singles competition, also partnered with Wang Manyu to participate in the women's doubles competition, compared with singles, her task is more in doubles, after all, at that time, Sun Yingsha's singles strength is not to mention compared to Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen, but compared to Wang Manyu, I feel a little worse.
And at this World Table Tennis Championships, Sun Yingsha, who participated in the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, won the women's doubles championship with Wang Manyu, and her performance in participating in the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time is definitely stronger than Liu Shiwen.
It is worth mentioning that the women's singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest is Liu Shiwen, and this is also Liu Shiwen's last peak.
Sun Yingsha's career has just reached its peak, and Liu Shiwen's career is about to come to an end, just like the handover between two generations of "genius girls".
Four
Liu Shiwen's first women's singles title was in 2009 (China Open) at the age of 18.
Sun Yingsha's first Women's Singles Open title was in 2017 (Japan Open) at the age of 17, and it is worth mentioning that this is Sun Yingsha's first international tournament in the adult category, and in addition to the women's singles title, she also won the women's doubles title with Chen Xingtong.
Liu Shiwen won the national singles championship for the first time in 2007 (National Championships) when she was 17 years old.
Sun Yingsha won the national singles championship for the first time in 2019 (National Championships) when she was 19 years old.
Liu Shiwen won the Asian singles title for the first time in 2010 (Asian Cup) at the age of 19.
Sun Yingsha won the Asian singles title for the first time in 2019 (Asian Championships) at the age of 19.
Liu Shiwen won the World Singles Championship for the first time in 2009 (World Cup) at the age of 18.
Sun Yingsha's first World Singles Championship was in 2023 (World Championships), when she was 23 years old.
Judging from the age of these championships, Liu Shiwen still has a certain advantage over Sun Yingsha.
But competitive sports are not only about talent, but also about psychological quality, ability to resist pressure, etc., and these Liu Shiwen are not as good as Sun Yingsha.
This can be seen from the first time the two faced the test of the competition, after all, Liu Shiwen in 2010 and Sun Yingsha in 2019 are both 19 years old.
Of course, as said at the beginning of the article, judging from the way the two came into contact with table tennis, Liu Shiwen had the advantage in the early stage, but Sun Yingsha is very likely to catch up, after all, interest is always the most important.
In addition to these, Sun Yingsha also has a quality that Liu Shiwen does not have, that is, tightness, and some fans also think that it is sophistication.
Now, Liu Shiwen has faded out of the national team for two years, and although she will still represent the Guangdong team in the 2025 National Games, her results in the World Series are basically fixed.
And Sun Yingsha is still on the rise, and now it seems that Liu Shiwen must have more world championships than Sun Yingsha, and Sun Yingsha's championship quality is not better than Liu Shiwen, but Sun Yingsha still has too much time to work hard and catch up.
Looking forward to the future one day Sun Yingsha will be tied with Wang Nan and Zhang Yining in the Grand Slam.
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