In the men's singles final of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Zhang Jike successfully defeated his teammate Wang Hao to win the Olympic championship, and at the same time created an unprecedented feat: 445 days to complete the table tennis Grand Slam!
Since then, Zhang Jike has become the third male table tennis Grand Slam player after Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui, and the record of 445 days has been maintained to this day, and it is also known as an "unsurpassed record", but judging from the current results of national table tennis teammates, this record has the opportunity to be broken by another national table tennis player.
Presumably many viewers have already guessed who this person is, yes, it is Sun Yingsha, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the women's singles world.
Sun Yingsha successfully won the women's singles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban on May 28, 2023, and won the championship again in the just-concluded Incheon Championships.
Judging from Sun Yingsha's recent form, even against Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi and other players have a very high winning rate.
On April 15, 2024, the Women's Table Tennis Singles World Cup will be held in Macau, and if Sun Yingsha plays normally, the probability of winning the championship is very high, so Sun Yingsha is only the Olympic champion away from the Grand Slam.
According to the official competition time given by the Paris Olympic Games, the table tennis competition ranking is still relatively high, if Sun Yingsha wins the championship in the Olympic Games, then Sun Yingsha will complete the Grand Slam in 433 days, 12 days less than Zhang Jike!
Of course, in addition to Sun Yingsha, Fan Zhendong also has a chance to break this record, in 2023, Fan Zhendong also won the championship of the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban, and if he wins the World Cup and the Olympic Games in a row, then Fan Zhendong can also break Zhang Jike's record.
But judging from Fan Zhendong's recent form, not to mention the Olympic champion, it is unknown whether the next Macau Singles World Cup can reach the final. Therefore, judging from the current form, Sun Yingsha is the athlete who is most likely to break the record.
In 2023, Sun Yingsha will win almost all the women's singles championships, and after entering 2024, although Sun Yingsha's state has fluctuated, her strength is almost still in the only gear, as long as she maintains normal performance, the probability of Sun Yingsha completing this feat is still very large.
Now that Sun Yingsha has started training in Zhuhai, and the intensity is very high, Sun Yingsha naturally knows the importance of the next competition, if she misses this opportunity, it will be more difficult to complete the Grand Slam in the next Olympic cycle, and even if she completes it, she will not be able to surpass Zhang Jike's record.
Grand Slam as the highest honor for table tennis players, throughout the history of table tennis, there are only 10 people who have completed it, and now there is no Grand Slam among the active players in the world table tennis world, which is the expectation of Sun Yingsha, the expectation of the national table tennis coaching staff, and the expectation of fans around the world.
In fact, Sun Yingsha's biggest obstacle on the way to winning the championship this time is still the national table tennis player, since the previous Singapore Grand Slam was upset by Chen Xingtong, Sun Yingsha began to strengthen the quality of the serve and carry out intensive training in individual events.
Liu Guoliang, the head of national table tennis, also said that if the gap in the strength of the main Chinese women's table tennis players is not very large, they basically win and lose each other, and who can win the game mainly depends on the performance and state on the spot.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Sun Yingsha lost to Chen Meng 2-4 and missed the Tokyo Olympics championship, which also proves how fierce the competition within the national table tennis is.
From a general point of view, they are all national table tennis players, no matter who wins the championship, they will win glory for the country, but from the perspective of personal selfishness, since they are all for the country, I still hope that Sun Yingsha can complete the feat of Grand Slam and truly become the first person in Chinese women's table tennis!