The Saudi Arabia Grand Slam is a double-edged sword, with Chen Mengwang Manyu fighting for a singles spot at the Paris Olympics
The May Day holiday in 2024 is approaching, and the 12 main members of the Chinese table tennis team have no holiday and go to Saudi Arabia to participate in the WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam.
May 1-3 is the qualifying stage, and May 4-11 is the main stage.
The men's list of the Chinese table tennis team for the Paris Olympics is scheduled to be released on May 7, and the women's table tennis list will be announced after the Saudi Grand Slam.
Judging from the current ranking of the selection points of the Paris Olympics, the singles places of Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin in the men's singles are basically stable; Ma Long is likely to be the third person (team quota); Liang Jingkun may be a P card player; and Lin Gaoyuan has a big difference in points and has little chance.
In women's table tennis, Wang Yidi has lost the opportunity to compete for an Olympic quota. Sun Yingsha is far ahead in the selection points, and singles is one of the confirmed places. Chen Meng (13310) and Wang Manyu (14865) are close in points, and there is a competition for the second singles spot.
The WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam has a high level and high points, with 2,000 points for the champion and 1,400 points for the runner-up. But this is also a double-edged sword, and 3,000 points will be deducted from the Olympic selection if the women's table tennis loses to the foreign war.
Wang Manyu or Chen Meng's singles in Paris depends on the performance of the two in Saudi Arabia.
The day before the start of the WTT Saudi Grand Slam qualifiers, the ITTF World Rankings for Week 18 of 2024 have been released, and the top 10 singles have not changed much.
In the men's singles, French straightboard rookie F. Lebrun rose one place to No. 5, while Lin Gaoyuan dropped one place to No. 6.
In Women's Singles, Japan's Hina Hayada moved up one place to No. 5, Chen Xingtong dropped one place to No. 6, while Szokos and Mimato Ito both moved up one place to No. 9 and No. 10 respectively.
In the top 50, the Chinese table tennis team also has Lin Shidong (15th), Zhou Qihao (24th), Xiang Peng (41st), and the women's singles also has Kuo Man 22, Qian Tianyi 25, He Zhuojia 43, Li Yake 45, Shi Xunyao 46.
A player like Xiang Peng, who is neither ranked high nor low, is really a little embarrassed, and the quota for high-level events such as the championship Grand Slam cannot be ranked, and it is useless to play the feeder tournament. He and Liu Dingshuo play in the PRO A League in France.
The women's team is similar to He Zhuojia, who played the T-League with Sun Mingyang in Japan.
The Paris Olympics are just over two months away. In addition to the Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, there will be two major training opportunities in May: the WTT Challenger Taiyuan starting on May 20 and the WTT Chongqing Championship starting on May 30.
Sun Yingsha, who has just won the World Cup women's singles championship, is one Olympic women's singles champion away from the glory of the Grand Slam.
Dear golfers, do you think Sun Yingsha can achieve her Grand Slam dream in Paris?
Ping Pong Hu Qingyuan