The 2024 WTT Grand Slam Saudi Arabia has come to an end, and the national table tennis team has won all five championships while basically locking the singles quota for the Paris Olympics.
This year's Saudi Grand Slam champions:
Men's Singles: Wang Chuqin
Women's Singles: Chen Meng
Men's Doubles: Wang Chuqin/Ma Long
Women's Doubles: Chen Meng/Wang Manyu
Mixed Doubles: Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha
With the final victory, and according to the deadline for the national table tennis to participate in the Olympic selection. Wang Chuqin continues to rank No. 1 in the world, and he also won the men's singles at the Paris Olympics. Fan Zhendong ranked No. 2 and locked in the second single. On the women's side, Chen Meng won all the foreign battles and defeated Sun Yingsha to win the title, so she qualified for the women's singles at the last minute. The other place fell to Sun Yingsha, basically continuing the women's singles lineup for the Tokyo Olympics.
Among them, Chen Meng is the women's singles champion of the last Olympics, and Sun Yingsha is the runner-up of the women's singles. Fan Zhendong was the runner-up in the men's singles at the last Olympics, and Wang Chuqin participated in the Olympics for the first time as the men's No. 1 player. However, the final singles seeding list will be announced on 16 July.
Of course, the most regrettable thing is the defeat of Ma Long and Wang Manyu.
Wang Manyu
In this Olympic cycle, Wang Manyu's performance is very good, winning a total of 7 women's singles championships in important events.
2021 14th National Games Women's Singles Final - 4-0 Sun Yingsha
2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships Women's Singles Final - 4-2 Sun Yingsha
2022 WTT Macau Championships Women's Singles Final - 4-0 Liu Shiwen
2022 WTT Championships Budapest Women's Singles Final - 4-2 Wang Yidi
2023 WTT Championships Macau Women's Singles Final - 4-2 Chen Meng
2023 Pyeongchang Asian Championships Women's Singles Final - 3-2 Sun Yingsha
2024 WTT Singapore Grand Slam Women's Singles Final - 4-1 Wang Yidi
Only in the most critical Saudi Arabia Grand Slam encountered Waterloo, in the 1/16 finals, Wang Manyu lost 1-3 to India's Batra and lost in an upset. Therefore, she had to deduct 3,000 Olympic points (the introduction of singles bonus points in the women's Olympic selection comes with a point deduction mechanism), and Chen Meng, who won the championship, was rewarded with 3,000 points, so that Wang Manyu once again missed the Paris women's singles qualification.
Malone
Even more unsettling is Ma Long, who is the men's singles and men's team champion of the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Before that, many fans were very much looking forward to him being able to achieve three consecutive Olympic men's singles titles in Paris, and he also said in the interview that he would stick to Paris. Especially after winning his third World Cup men's singles championship (4-3 Lin Gaoyuan), everyone is more confident in Ma Long's trip to Paris. However, the early exit from the Saudi station also denied Malone the singles qualification in Paris.
Now, Ma Long is likely to participate in the team event of the Paris Olympics, and in terms of P cards, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, and Lin Shidong all have a chance.