2023 World Table Tennis Championships mixed doubles champions and Chinese pair Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha worry about "the trauma of three years ago". In the mixed doubles final of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, the Japanese pair of Hayabusa Mizutani/Mimato Ito defeated the world No. 1 Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen 4-3 to win Japan's first Olympic table tennis gold medal.
Japan's Tomokazu Haramoto/Hina Hayata, who qualified for the mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics
At the 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, world No. 1 Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha defeated Japan's Tomokazu Zhangmoto/Hina Hayada 3-0 in the mixed doubles semi-finals, and also kept a clean sheet against Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting/To Hoi Kim in the final, showing the fighting form worthy of the world champions.
In the mixed doubles final of table tennis at the Tokyo Olympics, Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen lost to the Japanese pair and won the silver medal
Even so, there seems to be a hint of unease on the Chinese side, after all, at the last Tokyo 2021 Olympics, where the event was set up for the first time, Mizutani Hayabusa/Mimato Ito defeated Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen to reach the top. In view of the end of the table tennis kingdom ushering in the end of missing the first Olympic champion in mixed doubles, some domestic media believe that "although the mixed doubles champion Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha is very strong, it is not easy to win gold in the Paris Olympics, and this victory in the Saudi Grand Slam does not mean that it can be easily won in the Paris Olympics." ”
In the WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam mixed doubles final on May 9, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha swept Hong Kong's Wong Chun Ting/To Hoi Kim with a score of 3-0 to win the championship.
At the same time, it was pointed out that at the Paris Olympics, Japan's Tomokazu Haramoto may use special skills to snatch the gold medal from the national table tennis team. If the Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha combination is not satisfied with the status quo, they need to be vigilant against their opponents at all times. Japanese media said that the Japanese table tennis community believes that "the mixed doubles combination composed of Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin is really strong, and it is difficult for Japanese table tennis to win the mixed doubles gold medal like the Tokyo Olympics", but the Chinese side seems to have taken a different view.