On May 11, 2024, in the women's singles final of the WTT Saudi Grand Slam held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the two Olympic champions of the Chinese table tennis team, Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha, staged a fierce duel again. This match is not only a battle between two top players, but also a do-or-die battle for the women's singles ticket to the Paris Olympics.
In this final, Chen Meng showed an impressive performance. She played a high-quality offense on the offensive end, and she was also as steady as a rock when defending, defusing Sun Yingsha's offense one by one. At the beginning of the game, Sun Yingsha took the lead with her excellent touch, but Chen Meng quickly adjusted her state and quickly pulled back a city by changing the rhythm and landing point. In the ensuing game, the two sides went back and forth, and the scene was very exciting. Although Sun Yingsha pulled the big score to 2:3 in the fifth game, Chen Meng withstood the pressure in the crucial sixth game and finally defeated Sun Yingsha with a total score of 4:2 and won the women's singles championship of this tournament.
This victory means a lot to Chen Meng. For more than two years, Chen Meng has been in a slump and has failed to win the women's singles title in international competitions. But this time, she finally broke her championship drought and stood on top again. With this victory, Chen Meng has earned a ticket to the women's singles at the Paris Olympics, and she will compete in the women's singles event at the Olympic Games with Sun Yingsha to challenge for the defending gold medal.
In the process of advancing to the finals, Chen Meng can be said to have gone through a bumpy road. According to the Olympic selection rules of the national team, Chen Meng needs to get enough points in this season's international competitions to qualify for the Olympic women's singles. However, in the first few races of the season, Chen Meng's performance has not been ideal, and she has lost many encounters with Sun Yingsha, and the points ranking has fallen to third place.
It wasn't until the Saudi Grand Slam that things turned around. In the semi-finals, Chen Menglian defeated the three main Olympians of the Japanese team, Miu Hirano, Miwa Zhang and Hina Hayata, all the way to the final.
In the other half, Wang Manyu, who was ranked second, was unexpectedly eliminated in the second round by India's Batra, who will be deducted 3,000 Olympic points according to the rules. In this way, Chen Meng finally overtook Wang Manyu with his outstanding performance in the Saudi Grand Slam and won the second ticket to Paris.
For Chen Meng, this is undoubtedly a counterattack to win the bid. In the post-match interview, Chen Meng couldn't hide her excitement, saying that she never expected to beat Sun Yingsha in the final, because she had hardly won against Sun Yingsha in the past two years.
The victory not only helped Chen regain her confidence, but also allowed her to achieve her dream of defending her Olympic Women's Singles title.
Compared with Chen Meng's winning bid, Sun Yingsha's Olympic ticket was not easy to come by. As one of the top female players in table tennis today, Sun Yingsha has won the tournament in the past year, not only won the women's singles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban and Hangzhou Asian Games last year, but also won the Macau World Cup this year. With this series of outstanding performances, Sun Yingsha locked the first place in the women's singles ticket to the Paris Olympics early.
Even so, Sun Yingsha still couldn't hide her disappointment in the final of the Saudi Grand Slam. In her post-match interview, she admitted that she didn't play well in the match, especially in the sixth game, when she missed a crucial moment in the sixth game, which ultimately led to her missing out on defending her title.
For a top athlete, the occasional loss is understandable. Sun Yingsha has continued to perform well overall this season, and she will not only compete in the women's singles event at the Olympics with Chen Meng, but will also compete in the mixed doubles and women's team, and is expected to become the first Chinese table tennis player to win three Olympic gold medals.
In addition to Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha, the Chinese table tennis lineup for this Olympic Games can be described as star-studded. In Men's Singles, the world's top two pairs, Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong, will represent China. As the silver medallist at the last Olympics, Fan Zhendong has more experience in the competition, but Wang Chuqin is in better form, not only beating Fan Zhendong to win the Asian Games last year, but also winning many competitions this season. In the men's singles event at the Olympics, it is still unknown who will win the title.
In the men's and women's team events, the Chinese team is the strongest favorite to win the championship. The men's team is composed of Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Liang Jingkun (P card), while the women's team is composed of Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi (P card. With the deep strength of the lineup, the Chinese team is the favorite to win gold and silver medals in these two events.
In the Mixed Doubles, world No. 1 Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha will also represent China. As the best mixed doubles pair of the season, they are dominantly dominant. If all goes well, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha are expected to win three gold medals in mixed doubles, men's singles and women's singles respectively, becoming the first pair of "triple crowns" in the history of Chinese table tennis.
The Chinese table tennis squad for this Olympic Games can be described as a strong team. They will compete on the stage of Paris and bring more exciting performances to the country and the fans. As the leading force in table tennis, the Chinese team will go all out in this Olympic Games and strive to win all five gold medals, once again demonstrating the strong strength of Chinese table tennis.