Wang Manyu, as a rising table tennis star in the Paris Olympic cycle, has won 8 major singles gold medals and is known as a "master of foreign warfare". However, despite her success, she was unexpectedly eliminated from the Olympic squad selection for reasons that go beyond the ordinary, especially with the subtle connection between Chen Meng's need to defeat Sun Yingsha in order to make Wang Manyu's selection at the Saudi Arabia Grand Slam.
The motive behind this "linkage effect" is confusing. Especially in that focus battle, Sun Yingsha's slightly abnormal performance contrasted with her usual high-level performance, which stimulated the audience's discussion of "strategic handicap match". It is speculated that this may be to promote some kind of internal ordering, but based on Sun Yingsha's historical straightforward attitude and top level, this speculation lacks hardcore evidence to support it.
The interaction between Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng, judging from their past duel records, has always maintained a high degree of competitiveness and professionalism. Sun Yingsha, as a winning general, does not allow any compromise in her style of play, so it is difficult to stand on the "handicap".
In the face of extensive public discussion, the management of the national table tennis team was forced to adjust the selection mechanism, and this series of changes indirectly led to Wang Manyu's regretful fall. In particular, Chen Meng's victory at a critical moment forced the management to hover between the rules and the results, revised the selection criteria several times, and finally appeared in a rare situation where the weight of a single champion exceeded multiple laurels, which undoubtedly challenged the general perception of the principle of fairness and transparency.
Behind Wang Manyu's failure to be selected, it reflects the intricate interests in the field of sports and the dynamic adjustment of the selection mechanism. Although the suspicions surrounding Sun Yingsha's "handicap match" are mostly speculative and lack of empirical evidence, the whole incident has undoubtedly touched an in-depth discussion on sports management, power balance and selection fairness, highlighting the importance of maintaining institutional transparency and fairness while pursuing excellent results.