The latest world rankings have been released, and the Olympic lineup of national table tennis is gradually becoming clear. Wang Manyu, a powerful player who has emerged in many major tournaments, was defeated again. Although during the week, Wang Manyu performed well in international competitions, winning multiple titles, even comparable to Sun Yingsha, and once overtook veteran Chen Meng. However, today's competitive landscape has long since become complex, and losses at key moments have changed her prospects.
Today, the competition is clearly divided. Wang Manyu was left far behind by Sun Yingsha, and the gap with Chen Meng gradually widened. While she still has hopes of competing for an Olympic spot, her prospects are fading. The main reason for this change is her performance at a critical moment, coupled with the optimization of the Olympic squad selection method by the national table tennis women's team.
On the basis of the original selection mechanism, the national table tennis women's team has increased the examination of the players' foreign war performance, and no longer simply focuses on the world ranking, making the foreign war performance a key factor. In the just-concluded Saudi Arabia Grand Slam tournament, the veteran Chen Meng performed well, defeating three Olympians of the Japanese team - Miu Hirano, Hina Hayada and Miwa Zhang - to finally win the championship, not only accumulated enough championship points, but also won wide recognition, completely got rid of the previous doubts.
On the contrary, Wang Manyu performed erratically against India's Batra in the 1/16 finals, and was beaten to the point where he was unable to fight back, not only losing the match, but also losing the opportunity to move forward. According to the rules, she was deducted 3,000 points for losing the foreign war, and the gap with Chen Meng was further widened, and the originally balanced competition pattern was broken. In the case that Sun Yingsha has locked a singles spot, the other singles spot belongs to the veteran Chen Meng.
As the double singles and team champion at the Tokyo Olympics, Chen Meng will once again set foot on the Olympic stage and strive for a second singles title and set a new record. Among the remaining team quota candidates, although Wang Manyu's recent form has been up and down, with her comprehensive strength, she once again entered the team competition lineup. Although she was not selected for singles, she was not the most regrettable player.
Wang Yidi's highlight performance in this cycle was not recognized, and he once again missed the Olympic opportunity. As she gets older, she is likely to be marginalized or even abandoned, and face regrets in her career.