The 2024 Saudi Arabia Grand Slam is in full swing, 12 players from the national table tennis team have played in the first round, and 6 have taken the lead in qualifying, and after today's game, it is estimated that 12 people will reach the top 32, and the most tired is Wang Chuqin, who needs to fight on the third line, but fortunately, he is young and energetic, and hopes to withstand the pressure. As the singles knockout rounds deepen, the opponent will become stronger and stronger, and the men's singles Ma Long and Fan Zhendong are in the lower half of the zone, and the pressure is very high. However, compared with the 36-year-old Ma Long, Fan Zhendong's state is more worrying, since 2024, Fan Zhendong's performance in singles events is not good, he is likely to miss the Olympic singles quota, I don't know what kind of results Xiaopang can achieve in the Saudi Grand Slam this time, I wish him good luck.
Although the men's singles list for the 2024 Paris Olympics has not yet been announced, from the current point of view, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long are very likely to be the candidates to participate, Liang Jingkun and Fan Zhendong are likely to be missed, and Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong have already been out, and it is estimated that there will be official news in a few days. Wang Chuqin and Ma Long's results this year are also not bad, especially the veteran Ma Long, who swept the world No. 1 Wang Chuqin 4-0 in the men's singles semifinals of the Macau World Cup. Although Ma Long's overall results in the singles competition in the past two years are average, he has a lot of experience in the face of Wang Chuqin, and it is also very strange.
During the Saudi Grand Slam, national table tennis coach Liu Guozheng also appeared, and he talked about the reason why Ma Long had an advantage in the face of Wang Chuqin, which can be said to hit the nail on the head. Liu Guozheng mainly talked about one point, he praised Ma Long's backhand, he said that in the history of national table tennis, he has never seen such a strong backhand athlete as Ma Long, and Ma Long's backhand is much stronger than Wang Chuqin's backhand. In fact, this is the reason why the 36-year-old Ma Long can still sweep Wang Chuqin 4-0, his physical fitness is not as abundant as that of young people, but at the technical level, even Ma Long at this stage is definitely stronger than Wang Chuqin. Moreover, it should be noted that Ma Long's forehand is also unbeatable.
In the semifinals of the Macau World Cup, Ma Long's backhand made Wang Chuqin very uncomfortable, and he couldn't find a way to deal with it, Ma Long can always find the opponent's weakness, and then the World Cup final, reversed Lin Gaoyuan 4-3 in the case of 0-3 behind, Ma Long changed his way of serving in the back, aiming at Lin Gaoyuan's weakness, he is indeed a very smart and wise athlete. Ma Long also has a secret weapon is the Overlord Twist, which can give all opponents a headache. In the field of table tennis, it can be said that Ma Long has obtained all the skills, whether it is forehand, backhand, overlord twisting, chipping, etc., Ma Long is at his fingertips, and other athletes can dominate the world table tennis world with a skill, such as Zhang Jike at his peak, he played the overlord twist to the extreme, and the dominance at the peak was not inferior to Ma Long, and even earlier than Ma Long became famous.
There are also many fans who joked that before the start of the semifinals of the Macau World Cup between Ma Long and Wang Chuqin, they reported to Zhang Jike's training class overnight and learned to twist the overlord. 36-year-old Zhang Jike has been retired for many years, he has not stayed away from table tennis, and also opened a training class, due to the impact of some things, Zhang Jike's commercial value plummeted, and he also needs to survive, so it is understandable to open a table tennis training class.
The 24-year-old Wang Chuqin's strength lies in his forehand, his ability to seize opportunities is very strong, and his ability to hold the stage is also very good, which is deeply valued by Liu Guoliang, but it is undeniable that Wang Chuqin's backhand ability is relatively average. Compared with Ma Long, the captain of the national table tennis team, Wang Chuqin still has a lot of room for improvement, he is now ranked No. 1 in the world, but it does not mean that he is the strongest table tennis athlete, he needs to continue to study, only by learning more table tennis skills, it is possible to make greater breakthroughs, and after the age of 30, he can win a lot of games without fighting for physical fitness and skills.
National table tennis coach Wang Hao has also been with Ma Long, he has been retired for so many years, and Ma Long is still playing, after Zhang Jike, he became the first brother of national table tennis, and now 27-year-old Fan Zhendong has become a veteran, and Ma Long also won the table tennis World Cup. No wonder Xiaopang said what was in his heart in an interview, that is, he hoped to retire with Ma Long.