On October 25, 2021, the list of athletes for the Chinese table tennis team to participate in the Houston World Table Tennis Championships was released, which made countless old fans regret that because Xu Xin offered to give up the competition, this year's list also created a historical record, that is, for the first time in the history of national table tennis (1953 to present), no direct shooter was sent to participate in the competition!
As a table tennis style that has won countless world championships and Olympic champions, the straight-shooting door school has declined in recent years, and now with Xu Xin's initiative to give up, the Chinese team has finally ushered in a World Table Tennis Championships that has no direct shooting players participating, which is really emotional!
Friends familiar with history know that the straight-pat play method is the "heirloom" of the Chinese team, which once shocked the table tennis arena and gave birth to countless top masters, including Rong Guotuan, the first world champion of New China, Zhuang Zedong, the third consecutive champion of the World Table Tennis Championships, Liu Guoliang of the Grand Slam and others.
Since the Chinese team first participated in the World Table Tennis Championships in 1953, the straight-slapping method has never missed any competition, but with the rapid development of equipment reform and technological development, the living space of this type of athlete is also shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye, of which the main layer of the women's team has long achieved full horizontal shooting, and the men's team has only Xu Xin in the top field in recent years.
In fact, before and after the London Olympic Games, the main layer of the national table tennis men's team still accounted for the majority of direct shooting players, and the proportion of straight and horizontal players was 3 to 2 (Ma Lin, Wang Hao, Xu Xin vs Zhang Jike, Ma Long). However, after Ma Lin and Wang Hao retired in 2014, Xu Xin's singles performance is still difficult to match Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Fan Zhendong, let alone the straight-shooting players who are even lower than him.
Prior to this, the Table Tennis Association has always adopted a corresponding protection policy for the direct shooting method, including mandatory regulations that local teams must have direct shooting athletes, and giving some young direct shooting players more opportunities to participate, like Xue Fei also went out with the team to win the asian games men's team championship.
However, no matter how to help, the decline trend of the straight-beat method in the era of inorganic glue has been difficult to avoid: the natural disadvantage of the backhand cannot be compensated, the advantage of forehand rushing is tragically weakened, the first three boards are directly cracked by the horizontal beat, and the strength and stability of the withdrawal phase are not as good as the horizontal shot.
In fact, Xu Xin has worked very hard to make up for the last point just mentioned, but his performance ceiling is also in the eyes of everyone, 6 times in the World Table Tennis Championships have never reached the men's singles final, the best result of the World Cup is Zhang Jike, Ma Long did not participate in the case of 1 men's singles championship, the Olympic Games have not been selected for the men's singles lineup, it is really trying!
In addition to Xu Xin, the situation of another straight-shooting star, Zheng Peifeng, can also be seen as a microcosm of today's table tennis direct-slapping style of play - this athlete once fought with injuries on the international arena and won the Open Championship, and is only 25 years old this year. However, not long ago, after the end of the Table Tennis Super League, Zheng Peifeng announced his retirement from the national team, which also surprised fans and friends.
But what can be done about it? Zheng Peifeng, who was born in 1996, is also far from the main layer this year, and it is indeed difficult to match the teammates of the same age group, such as Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, etc. At a glance, there is no hope of rising, coupled with the career of a body injury, who can not be discouraged?
After Xu Xin, the straight-pat play method may indeed become extinct at the top of the national table tennis. But we believe that the prestige of this sect will surely be passed on, and perhaps one day in the future, someone will continue to bloom a new glory: I hope that day will come.