On May 6, Beijing time, at the 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, the national table tennis rarely had an upset, and the three world champions and the three main players lost on the same match day, namely Liang Jingkun, Wang Manyu and Lin Gaoyuan, all three of whom missed the top 16 of singles, which was a big surprise. With Wang Manyu out, Chen Meng has received good news and is expected to win the women's singles seat in the Paris Olympics, and Hina Hayada has a good chance to advance to the quarterfinals of the Saudi Grand Slam women's singles.
On the third day of the main competition, upsets became the main theme, and national table tennis became the target of upsets. First of all, Liang Jingkun lost to Alamiyan 2-3 and missed the men's singles round of 16. Then Wang Manyu won one game and then lost three games in a row, losing 1-3 to Batra and missing the women's singles round of 16. Wang Manyu's defeat is very lethal, because she lost the foreign war and will be deducted 3,000 points, Chen Meng has surpassed Wang Manyu before she has even appeared on the stage. Therefore, as long as Chen Meng does not lose the foreign war, there is a high probability that he can get the Olympic women's singles seat, which can really be described as a joy from the sky.
After Wang Manyu's upset loss, Lin Gaoyuan also suffered a defeat, he lost 1-3 to Denmark's Jonatan Grote and missed the men's singles round of 16, which is of course a big upset. So far in the third match day, there have been 4 national table tennis players, and only Wang Chuqin has won, he won three games in a row 11-5, 11-3, 11-6, easily swept Ovidou Ionescu, and advanced to the men's singles round of 16.
In other men's singles matches, Aruna eliminated Lee Sang-so 3-2, Zhao Dacheng eliminated Zhuang Zhiyuan 3-2, and the winning Aruna and Zhao Dacheng then had a direct dialogue to compete for the men's singles quarterfinals. Darko Joczyk swept Hayashi 3-0, and Hugo Calderano narrowly beat Hayasuke Togami 3-2.
In other women's singles matches, Miyu Kihara swept seeded player Shin Yubin 3-0, Zhang Benmeihe swept Shao Jieni 3-0, Nina Mittram eliminated Zeng Jian 3-1, and Nina Mittram, who advanced to the round of 16, will face Batra in the 1/8 finals. In addition, Zheng Yijing, Miyu Hirano, and Yang Xiaoxin also won the top 16 seats. The match between Hina Hayada and Shan Xiaona was suspended because Hina Hayada suddenly bleed from the nose, and after a long treatment, Hina Hayada returned to the game and her form was not affected, eliminating Shan Xiaona 3-1 and advancing to the top 16 of women's singles.
Due to Wang Manyu's early exit, Hina Hayada has a good opportunity, she will face Zheng Yijing in the 1/8 finals, if she successfully advances to the quarterfinals of the women's singles, and the winner between Nina Mittram and Batra in the 1/4 finals, that is to say, Hina Hayada has a very good hope of advancing to the women's singles semifinals!