The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are approaching, and the entry lists of the associations are also being announced. On April 9, Beijing time, the national table tennis rival and the German Table Tennis Association officially nominated this year's Olympic lineup, as follows-
- Men's Singles: Qiu Dang, Ocharov;
- Women's Singles: Mitterham, Han Ying;
- Mixed Doubles: Qiu Dang/Mitterham;
- Men's group: Qiu Dang, Ocharov, Pol;
- Women's group: Mitham, Han Ying, Shan Xiaona;
- Subs: Francesca, TBD.
As soon as this news came out, it immediately sparked heated discussions among fans, because this year's world champion Bol, who was in very good shape, missed the list, and Francesca, who defeated Malone not long ago, didn't even get a team place, but Qiu Dang participated in all three battles, and the competition was indeed fierce, some people were happy and some were worried!
Germany is the leader of European table tennis in the past 20 years, among which the men's team Boll and Ocharov have won the World Cup singles championship three times, and have reached the finals in the Olympic Games and the World Table Tennis Championships team events many times, and the women's team has also won the Olympic team silver medal in 2016.
In recent years, the competition within the German men's team has been very fierce, and the rise of Chinese player Qiu Dang has changed the situation of Bol and Ocharov in the past, and has also affected Francesca's main position;
Judging from the singles lineup nominated this time, the world ranking is undoubtedly an important basis for the German Table Tennis Association, among which Qiu Dang and Ocharov are the highest-ranked people in the men's team, while Han Ying and Mitterham are the top two positions in the women's team, but Francesca, who is currently ranked third in the team, failed to qualify for the team and was replaced by the veteran Boer.
In fact, Bol's recent form is very good, at the beginning of the year won Lee Sang-so, Zhang Yuzhen, Lin Yunru, Zhang Benzhihe won the WTT Challenger men's singles championship, but at that time it was a best-of-five system, and the Olympics was a best-of-seven system, which is a severe test of the 43-year-old veteran Bol's physical fitness, but if you participate in the Olympic team event, it is still a best-of-five game, maybe it is more appropriate to only participate in this one.
As for Francesca's defeat, it is somewhat regrettable, because he once defeated the five main players of national table tennis Ma Long, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, and won Ma Long in the Grand Slam in March this year, but he has been suppressed by the two senior brothers Bol and Ocharov for a long time, and now he has been surpassed by his junior brother Qiu Dang, which is indeed an inopportune time.
As mentioned earlier, the current main framework of the German women's team is relatively stable, and the biggest suspense lies in whether Han Ying can participate in the war normally, because she has rested for a long time due to breaking her Achilles tendon and may not be able to rush to Paris as scheduled - according to the arrangement, the final list of participants will be decided by the German Olympic Committee as early as May, but it is unlikely that the table tennis association's proposal will be overturned, so let's wait and see what happens!