On May 9, 2024, Beijing time, the WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam entered the fifth day of competition. As a result, in addition to one derby, the national table tennis won seven battles and seven victories. In the mixed doubles final, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha has won the championship; In men's and women's doubles, Chen Meng/Wang Manyu and Ma Long/Wang Chuqin defeated their opponents respectively and advanced to the finals; Men's singles Wang Chuqin and Lin Shidong both won and met in the semifinals, while women's singles Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, and Wang Yidi won three battles and three victories, and Sun Wang met in the semifinals, while Chen Meng will continue his anti-Japanese journey against Hina Hayata.
On May 10, the Saudi Grand Slam will produce two doubles champions and two singles finalists. The schedule is as follows:
It seems that the national table tennis team, which has suffered heavy losses before, has recovered its vitality, and the hope of winning the championship in all five individual events has been retained, and it is not impossible to win five championships again. However, what happened during this period will have an impact on the selection of the Olympic squad of national table tennis? After all, Chen Meng and Lin Shidong's performances are quite eye-catching, while Wang Manyu and Fan Zhendong have lost foreign wars one after another, and their state is worrying. So, can Wang Manyu and Fan Zhendong still be selected for the singles squad for the Paris Olympics? Will the national table tennis Olympic squad regenerate "variables"? Let's make some assumptions about the course of the Saudi Masters:
If Chen Meng can defeat Hina Hayada to reach the final, then she will defeat Miu Hirano, Miwa Zhangmoto, and Hina Hayada in a row. If Chen Meng goes one step further and wins the Saudi Masters, should she be given a chance? With Sun Yingsha already occupying a seat, will Wang Manyu lose her singles qualification?
If Lin Shidong can defeat Wang Chuqin and advance to the finals, or even soar to the sky and win the championship, will the national table tennis coaching staff change their orders again and include Lin Shidong in the Olympic men's singles list to replace Fan Zhendong, who is not in good shape?
Xiaobian believes that the results of the two hypotheses may be very different.
The first if, the possibility of happening exists, after all, Chen Meng's state is there, Wang Manyu did lose the foreign war, and the Olympic points were greatly affected, replacing Chen Meng with Chen Meng is logical, and it will not have much impact on the overall arrangement of singles and doubles and team events;
And the second if, the possibility of happening is much smaller, even if Lin Shidong wins the championship, it is unlikely to replace Fan Zhendong's singles position, mainly because he has too little experience in participating in the World Series, and Lin Shidong joins in, the doubles combination will lack more changes, which will have too much impact on the arrangement of doubles and team competitions.
If nothing else, the national table tennis Olympic singles lineup will be composed like this:
Men's Singles: Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong
Women's Singles: Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng
As we all know, the national table tennis soldiers are strong and strong, and the difficult birth of the Olympic squad is a sweet trouble, but the opening time of the Paris Olympics is getting closer and closer, and the national table tennis coaching staff should have made a decision early.