Overview of the WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam 2024
From May 1 to 11, the 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam table tennis tournament will kick off in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As one of the four major annual table tennis tournaments, the Saudi Grand Slam has always attracted much attention. With a total prize fund of US$5 million, the tournament is divided into five events: Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles, and the format is 32-in-16, 16-in-8, 8-in-4, semi-finals and finals.
The Chinese table tennis team is a gathering of heroes in this event. In men's singles, the world's top three Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Lin Shidong all played; The women's singles lineup is led by Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi. Doubles pairs such as Xu Xin/Lin Gaoyuan and Wang Chuqin/Zhou Yu will also participate. The coaching staff said that this time it is the main force of national table tennis, and the goal is, of course, to win all five championships.
Although the dominance of national table tennis in Grand Slam tournaments has declined in recent years, Chinese table tennis is re-emerging led by local players. In the last Qatar Open, the national table tennis team has won three championships, which shows that the strength should not be underestimated. And this Saudi Grand Slam is an excellent stage for national table tennis to regain the hegemony.
The statement of "frequent thunderstorms".
Despite the strong national table tennis lineup, many media and netizens have recently expressed concern about the performance of national table tennis in the Saudi Arabia Grand Slam, and even bluntly said "frequent thunderstorms". Through the search of relevant information, we found that this statement is obviously an exaggeration and misunderstanding of the facts.
The search results did not find any reports about "frequent thunderstorms in national table tennis". On the contrary, the major media reports on the upcoming Saudi Grand Slam tournament are all positive, believing that the national table tennis is expected to regain the championship in this event.
From the perspective of the strength of the national table tennis lineup, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng and other first-line main players all played, plus the support of Lin Shidong, Wang Manyu and other new generation players, the overall strength of national table tennis is very strong. At the last Qatar Open, the national table tennis team has won three championships, which shows that the strength is obvious to all. Evaluating the performance of national table tennis in the Saudi Grand Slam as "frequent thunderstorms" is obviously a distortion of the facts.
Even if the performance of national table tennis in the Saudi Grand Slam may not be satisfactory, it can only show that the strength of table tennis is becoming more and more balanced, and the level of players in other countries and regions is constantly improving, and it cannot simply be blamed on the "thunderstorm" of national table tennis itself. In recent years, the dominance of national table tennis in Grand Slam events has indeed declined, but this is not a "thunderstorm", but the improvement of the overall strength of table tennis.
It is pure nonsense to evaluate the performance of national table tennis in the Saudi Arabian Grand Slam as "frequent thunderstorms". This statement is not only unsubstantiated, but also underestimates the strength of national table tennis and the progress of other players in the table tennis world. We have reason to believe that with a strong lineup, the national table tennis will have an outstanding performance in this Saudi Grand Slam event.
Coaching staff employment controversy
Although the statement of "frequent thunderstorms" is not in line with the facts, the practice of the national table tennis coaching staff in terms of employment has indeed caused some controversy and questions. Mainly focused on the treatment of the rising star Lin Shidong.
Lin Shidong is undoubtedly the main force of the future of national table tennis, in recent tournaments, he has repeatedly reached the finals, but often gave up halfway and failed to win the championship. It is believed that this has something to do with the coaching staff's preference for him, placing too much emphasis on his performance and ignoring other players.
The coaching staff's explanation for this is that Lin Shidong is still young and has unlimited potential, and he needs to be given full trust and reuse opportunities to help him grow up as soon as possible. They also emphasized that it was not only Lin Shidong who was valued, but the employment arrangement made after comprehensively considering the state and characteristics of the players.
It is undeniable that Lin Shidong is indeed the mainstay of the future of national table tennis, and it is necessary to give him enough attention and opportunities. But from another point of view, it is not advisable to focus too much on one person and ignore the performance of other players. Table tennis is a collective sport that requires a balanced development of overall strength.
The coaching staff should weigh the pros and cons in terms of employing personnel, maintain the principle of fairness and justice, and reasonably arrange the appearance list and position according to the actual state of each player, and should not be too partial to certain individuals. Only by achieving the scientific and standardized use of personnel can the national table tennis truly exert its strongest strength.
From the above, we can conclude that it is pure nonsense to evaluate the performance of national table tennis in the upcoming Saudi Grand Slam tournament as "frequent thunderstorms", which is obviously an exaggeration and misunderstanding of the facts.
The national table tennis lineup is strong and its strength should not be underestimated, and it has won three championships at the last Qatar Open. Even if the performance in the Saudi Grand Slam may not be satisfactory, it can only show that the strength of the table tennis world is constantly improving, rather than the "thunderstorm" of national table tennis itself.
The only thing worth paying attention to is that the coaching staff's approach to hiring people has caused some controversy, and there is a suspicion of being too individual-oriented. However, as long as the principle of scientific impartiality is maintained, this problem can also be solved.