The 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam is about to be held, which is the last major event for the national table tennis women's team to determine the Olympic selection list. However, for former world champion Wang Yidi, the road to the Olympics seems to have become narrower and narrower.
Over the past 13 months, Wang Yidi's international results have been worrying, with seven international defeats, including six to Japan. This performance caused her to lose the trust of her coaching staff, and even her Olympic singles qualification was disqualified early. Especially in the Macau World Cup, Wang Yidi's defeat to young Japanese rising star Miwa Zhangmoto highlighted her current predicament.
Looking back at Wang Yidi's career, she rose to fame in the 2019 Hong Kong Open with a 4-0 win over Japan's Misei Ito. Since then, her performance has been highly anticipated and has gradually become the core force of national table tennis. However, from 2023 onwards, her performance has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and she has suffered consecutive setbacks on the international stage.
In particular, from March 2023 to February 2024, Wang Yidi participated in a number of important competitions, including the World Championships in Durban, the Asian Games in Hangzhou, and the World Championships in Busan, but she failed to achieve the desired results and repeatedly lost to foreign players. Several defeats against the Japanese were particularly painful, such as the heavy defeats against Miu Hirano and Hina Hayata, showing the gap between her and her top rivals.
According to the "Announcement of the Chinese Table Tennis Association on Optimizing and Adjusting the Relevant Amendments to the Selection Measures for the National Table Tennis Women's Team to Participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games", Wang Yidi has been revoked by the coaching staff due to her poor performance in consecutive international competitions. For now, her main hope may only be an Olympic P-card (substitute) spot.
As time goes on, Wang Yidi faces not only technical and physical challenges, but also fierce competition for the younger generation of fighters. In this context, whether she can play what role at the Paris Olympics, and whether she can only be used as a substitute or sparring partner in the team competition, has become the focus of attention in the table tennis world. In the face of the ensuing challenges, Wang Yidi needs to regain his former glory and re-prove his strength and value