Sun Yingsha has actually won the World Cup three times, and this year's Macau World Cup is a newly restructured World Cup. Since the 2020 World Cup, the 2021 and 2022 World Cups have been combined with the year-end finals. In fact, the World Cup is similar to the year-end finals, before the reform, in the eyes of fans, the gold content is not as good as the year-end finals.
In the past, players from all continents were invited to participate in the World Cup, and the number of participants from each continent was relatively limited. Due to the outstanding competitiveness of Asian players and the restriction of the number of participants, the gold content of the World Cup is significantly different from the year-end finals. After all, the year-end finals are registered according to the ranking of the players, and the players with low rankings in the world are not eligible to participate.
Before the restructuring, the quota for the World Cup was allocated according to each continent, which was more balanced. So much so that the World Cup has become one of the best tournaments to win the championship, and many players can win the championship as long as they compete in the prime of their careers. At present, Liu Shiwen has won the most championships in the Women's Table Tennis World Cup, reaching five.
Being able to achieve five World Cup crowns has become the most popular achievement in Liu Shiwen's career. Especially in those time periods when Liu Shiwen lost to the World Table Tennis Championships, as long as Liu Shiwen participated in the World Cup, she could almost win the championship. In the 2019 World Cup, Liu Shiwen won the championship again, and Misei Ito, who was the strongest in Japanese table tennis at that time, was not eligible to participate.
Although fans think that the World Cup has a low gold content, there is a relatively high threshold for players to participate. It is also the reduction of the gold content and influence of the World Cup that has made the ITTF carry out the restructuring of the World Cup. Because since an event is called a competition, it has to attract top players to participate, and even the top players are not qualified for the event, of course, it will lose attention.
Sun Yingsha won the World Cup finals in 2021 and 2022 for two consecutive years, in fact, these two championships are much higher than the previous World Cup events from the perspective of gold content. At the very least, the players who participated in the tournament were ranked higher, and players outside the world ranking of 35 were not eligible to participate.
The newly restructured Macau World Cup in 2024 is divided into the group stage and the knockout round, and even players like Moregaard cannot enter the knockout round. Lin Gaoyuan and Wang Chuqin, who reached the semifinals and finals, were forced to equalize by competitors in the group stage.
However, due to the draw and grouping in the knockout round, some players have a better draw group and are difficult to meet strong opponents. This time, Sun Yingsha's signing was relatively good, and she did not encounter a strong Japanese and South Korean opponent. In fact, the strength of the foreign opponents faced by Sun Yingsha this time is really not strong, and the main opponent is the teammates of the national table tennis.
Sun Yingsha faced Chen Xingtong, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu in the knockout round this time, and three of the four knockout matches were against her teammates. Relatively speaking, Sun Yingsha is more familiar with her teammates, while teammate Wang Manyu has been fighting consecutive encounters. Including Chen Meng, the battle against the main Japanese table tennis force Miyu Hirano, the gold content of the foreign war is higher.
However, they lost their matches against Sun Yingsha, so Sun Yingsha won the championship of this World Cup. Strictly speaking, Sun Yingsha has won the World Cup three times, and 2021 and 2022 are also World Cups, but a finals has been added, and the name of the event also has the word World Cup.
Now Sun Yingsha has won the World Cup several times, second only to Fan Zhendong in men's singles and Liu Shiwen in women's singles. There has always been a World Cup curse in the minds of fans, that is, it is difficult for players who have won the World Cup to achieve a Grand Slam. The current head coach of the women's team, Ma Lin, has won the World Cup four times in her career, but unfortunately she has not achieved a Grand Slam.
Not all players who win the World Cup will not be able to achieve a Grand Slam, but the probability of achieving a Grand Slam is indeed lower for players who have won the most World Cups. The World Cup is easy to win, but the Grand Slam is really not easy to achieve. For Sun Yingsha, this year's Olympics is the perfect time to break this curse.
Liu Shiwen and Fan Zhendong are both very good, and the two have won the World Cup five times and four times respectively. Liu Shiwen's regret is that she has not won the singles quota for the Olympic Games, and Fan Zhendong's regret is that she won the runner-up in the Olympic Games, and she lost in the deciding game.
Players who have won the most World Cup titles have more regrets in their careers. For some players, winning the World Cup has become an obstacle, why is it easy for some players to win the World Cup, but it is difficult to win the championship in the Olympic Games and the World Table Tennis Championships?
Only the players who win the World Championships and the Olympic Games at the same time have the real ability to adapt and withstand pressure, and these two competitions are the most important criteria to measure whether a player is good. For Sun Yingsha, it is about moving towards the Olympic singles championship. Winning the World Cup is only a small step, winning the Olympics is a big step, and if you want to achieve a Grand Slam, you have to win the singles competition at the National Games.
As a post-00 player, Sun Yingsha must of course have a new atmosphere and learn from the experience of her predecessors in Grand Slam competitions. From Sun Yingsha's serve, it can be seen that Sun Yingsha has been working hard to improve herself and consolidate her comprehensive strength, and fans also hope that she can achieve a Grand Slam as soon as possible, realize her dream of the Olympics, and make her career brilliant.