Chen Meng's road to winning the championship
The women's singles final of the 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam was staged in a fierce battle at the table tennis hall in Riverside City, California. China's Chen Meng defeated young Japanese powerhouses Miu Hirano and Miwa Zhang in this duel to win the title. The victory means Chen Meng is one step away from qualifying for the women's singles at Paris 2024.
In the first game of the final against Miu Hirano, Chen Meng encountered the stubborn resistance of his opponent in the opening game. Although Miyu Hirano is young, she has extremely fast hands, sharp serves, and sharp attacks, which has caused a lot of trouble for Chen Meng. With rich game experience and steady performance, Chen Meng bit the score on the key points, and finally defeated Hirano with a total score of 4-3 and advanced to the finals.
In the second leg of the final against Zhang Benmeihe, Chen Meng encountered a more difficult test. Zhang Benmeihe is the hottest young talent in the world table tennis today, with superb offensive means and a good defensive backhand. At the beginning of the game, Zhang Benmei and won two cities in a row with his excellent feel, and Chen Meng once fell into passivity.
Faced with the dilemma of backwardness, Chen Meng was not discouraged, but exerted the spirit of tenacious struggle. She responded calmly, gradually getting better, using her solid technical background and outstanding psychological quality, relying on her precise control of the situation, and finally turned the tide at a critical moment, defeating Zhang Benmeihe with a total score of 4-3, defending the honor of national table tennis in the women's singles event.
Olympic tickets are just around the corner
The win means Chen Meng is one step away from qualifying for the women's singles at Paris 2024. As the number one veteran of national table tennis, Chen Meng's outstanding performance in this Grand Slam not only won a valuable Olympic qualification place for himself, but also defended the honor of the Chinese team.
For Chen, who is in her thirties, this could be the last Olympic shock of her career. Since making her Olympic debut in 2016, Chen Meng has been eager to achieve breakthrough results at the Olympics. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she stopped in the quarterfinals of the women's singles; At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she won the bronze medal in women's singles, and she is still a thin line away from the gold medal.
Today, Chen Meng is a veteran of national table tennis, and her desire for an Olympic gold medal can be described as tireless. In this Grand Slam, Chen Meng showed his determination to the Olympic Games with practical actions. With her fighting spirit and superb skills, she defeated a group of young opponents at crucial moments later in her career and earned herself a valuable Olympic qualification spot.
For Chinese table tennis, Chen Meng's victory is also of great significance. In the women's singles event of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the Chinese team won 3 quotas, of which Chen Meng and Wang Manyu locked 2 quotas in advance, and the remaining 1 quota will be produced in the Olympic trials. Chen Meng's outstanding performance won valuable Olympic qualifications for the national team and enhanced the strength of the Chinese team in the Olympic arena.
The mixed doubles event was outstanding
In addition to their impressive results in the Women's Singles, Chen Meng and her partners Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha have also achieved impressive results in the Mixed Doubles event, having already qualified for the 2024 Asian Games in Hangzhou and the Olympic Games in Paris.
In 2022, Chen Meng and Wang Chuqin won the mixed doubles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships, and then won many WTT events, securing the mixed doubles qualification for the 2024 Asian Games in Hangzhou. In 2023, Chen Meng and her new partner Sun Yingsha showed excellent chemistry from the beginning of their cooperation, winning back-to-back World Championships and WTT events, and then securing a place in the mixed doubles at Paris 2024.
For Chen Meng, the mixed doubles event has always been her forte. With her excellent singles skills and excellent tacit cooperation, she has repeatedly achieved miraculous achievements in the mixed doubles arena. In the 2012 London Olympics, Chen Meng and Ma Long won the mixed doubles gold medal; At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she teamed up with Xu Xin to win the mixed doubles silver medal. Chen Meng, who is over 30 years old now, is still the number one ace in the mixed doubles event of the national team.
Chen Meng has not only earned a valuable Olympic qualification in the Women's Singles event but also in the Mixed Doubles event, and she will go all out to challenge for more medals for the national team at the 2024 Asian Games in Hangzhou and the Olympic Games in Paris. For Chinese table tennis, Chen Meng's outstanding performance is undoubtedly a shot in the arm, which will further unite the fighting spirit of the whole team and move forward bravely for the Olympic medals.
In addition to the Women's Singles, Chen Meng and her partners Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha have also achieved impressive results in the Mixed Doubles event, having already qualified for the 2024 Asian Games in Hangzhou and the Olympic Games in Paris. For Chen, who is in her thirties, this could be the last Olympic shock of her career, and she will go all out to achieve a breakthrough result on the Olympic stage.
Chen Meng's outstanding performance not only won him a valuable Olympic qualification quota, but also strengthened the strength of the Chinese team in the Olympic Games. She will continue to carry forward the spirit of tenacious struggle and strive for more medals for the national team in the upcoming Olympic cycle.