Preface
On March 24, 2024, a very interesting phenomenon appeared in the men's final of the table tennis T-League in Japan.
Among the two teams in the finals, the main force to the end is Chinese.
One is Hao Shuai, the former sixth dragon of China's national table tennis, and the other is Lin Yunru, a rising star from Taiwan.
They gave a wonderful pinnacle duel for countless spectators in the Japanese arena, and in the end, the 41-year-old Hao Shuai was defeated by Lin Yunru with a record of 1-3.
So then again, why did these two masters of Chinese table tennis appear on the Japanese stage?
The former six dragons of national table tennis
Table tennis will be proud of coming to China, after all, haven't you seen that over the years, every time the rules of international table tennis competitions have been changed, is it to restrict China?
In the star-studded Chinese national table tennis team, there was once a combination known as the six dragons of national table tennis.
For example, the current national team coach Wang Hao is one of the six dragons of the year.
And among the six little dragons, if there is anyone who has the most tragic experience, it must be Hao Shuai, so what is going on?
Speaking of which, Hao Shuai is definitely a typical example of a noble son from a poor family.
Hao Shuai in 1983 was born in Tianjin, his father was an ordinary worker, and his mother was an ordinary housewife.
As a later table tennis celebrity, Hao Shuai naturally showed some outstanding strengths early, such as particularly strong athleticism.
How exuberant is it? Even the kindergarten teacher was a little exhausted and had to advise Hao Shuai's parents:
Your child is quite athletic, should you let him learn some sports?
The parents listened to the teacher's advice and thought it was good, so, after some thought, they sent their son to a table tennis training class.
At first, the parents just wanted to find a pastime for their son so that he would not be too naughty at school and at home.
But I didn't think about it, but this choice made Hao Shuai's life.
When Hao Shuai first came into contact with table tennis, as if it was fate, he developed a strong interest in table tennis, and enjoyed it and indulged in it.
It is said that once Hao Shuai had a fever and chickenpox, but even so, he still insisted on practicing.
Hao Shuai's talent and persistence were seen by the coach, and the coach felt that this child would definitely be able to become a great weapon, so he became more strict with Hao Shuai.
With talent, interest and perseverance, Hao Shuai's table tennis level has naturally improved rapidly.
At the 1995 Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships, Hao Shuai, who was only 12 years old, not only participated, but also won all the championships in seven events!
With such an excellent performance, needless to say, the Tianjin team recruited Hao Shuai the following year.
After that, Hao Shuai trained for another three years in the Tianjin team, during which he also participated in many domestic competitions, and gradually played his prestige.
It's a pity that in the 1999 national team training camp, Hao Shuai didn't play well at first for some reasons, so much so that he lost three games in a row.
Fortunately, Hao Shuai's strength is beyond doubt, and he finally entered the national second team.
It's just that after entering the national team, Hao Shuai was not taken seriously at first, and even failed to participate in any competitions for two years, so that his reputation slowly faded.
It's gold that shines sooner or later.
This was not at the 2003 ITTF Tour year-end finals, Hao Shuai finally had a chance to show his strength.
He fought all the way and met the aforementioned Wang Hao in the final.
At that time, Wang Hao was much more beautiful than Hao Shuai, and he was recognized as a key training object.
And the final between the two was also quite exciting, but unfortunately Hao Shuai still missed a move in the end and lost to the other party with a score of 3-4.
Sometimes it's really a step by step, and the failure of this game seems to have hinted at some of Hao Shuai's twists and turns.
Later, in the 2005 Shanghai World Table Tennis Championships, Hao Shuai was overwhelmed by Metz in the men's singles 1/4 finals with a score of 3.
Failure is not terrible, what is terrible is that in the above two games, Hao Shuai won first and then lost.
That is, the first few games have already taken the advantage, but they always play abnormally due to psychological reasons, so that they are counterkilled by the opponent.
This made the coaching staff label Hao Shuai as a bad psychological quality, and finally caused Hao Shuai's later encounters.
In addition to the problems on the field, Hao Shuai actually endured huge psychological torture off the field, and finally left Japan because of this, so what's going on?
Leaving Japan is unexpected
The three madnesses in the sports world: Cai Zhenhua, Li Yongbo, Liu Guoliang.
Speaking of Liu Guoliang, everyone is familiar with him, because he has made too many marks on China's men's table tennis team.
And how should Liu Guoliang evaluate this person?
First of all, his contribution to China's sports industry is undoubted, but his temper is indeed quite a toss-up.
Ma Long said: I have been used to being scolded by Liu Guoliang.
It can be said that all the athletes who walked under Liu Guoliang were trained, and it was commonplace.
Even sometimes, Liu Guoliang will do it.
For example, in 2007, there was a "controversy" on the Internet about Liu Guoliang and Hao Shuai.
The video shows that it should be a private dinner of the national table tennis team, everyone is talking and laughing, only Hao Shuai is a little unsociable and is on the phone.
This aroused Chen Xi's dissatisfaction, so he said a few words to the other party and then the two quarreled.
Immediately afterwards, Liu Guoliang's face darkened, and he walked directly to Hao Shuai, snatched his mobile phone in front of him, and slapped him!
Although after the video was exposed, many parties said that it was just Liu Guoliang joking with Hao Shuai.
But from Hao Shuai's incompatibility in the party and Liu Guoliang's slap, we can clearly see that in the national team, Hao Shuai's situation is indeed not very good.
Fortunately, Hao Shuai finally waited for his highlight in 2010.
In that year, the 27-year-old Hao Shuai successfully defeated Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin and other table tennis celebrities and won the world championship in one fell swoop!
Hao Shuai finally proved himself, but it was a little late, because the athletes of the national team generally retire before the age of 30.
Hao Shuai naturally knows this, but he is still unconvinced, he feels that he can still achieve greater achievements on the field.
So Hao Shuai had to leave the national team after a few more years.
But leaving the national team doesn't mean leaving the field.
Hao Shuai returned to the Tianjin Fourth Team and continued to be active on the field, and later for some reasons, he was invited to join the T-League in Japan and entered the Okayama team.
Speaking of which, Hao Shuai is now 41 years old and can retire, but he still insists on being active in the arena, and I don't know if he can't let go of the breath in his heart?
Regrettably, a new generation has replaced the old.
Although Hao Shuai is still a famous athlete, in Japan over the years, he still often shines in the Japanese arena, so that although he is over forty years old, he is still the main ace of the Ganggang Mountain team.
But in the face of an endless stream of newcomers, this veteran will inevitably have a sense of powerlessness.
For example, in April this year, he defeated his emerging star Lin Yunru with an absolute advantage of 3-1.
So, who is Lin Yunru?
Emerging star
In 2001, Lin Yunru was born in Yilan County, in today's Taiwan Province, China.
Like Hao Shuai, Lin Yunru showed extraordinary table tennis talent in elementary school, how good is it?
When he was in the fifth grade of elementary school, he won five singles championships in Taiwan.
But do you think that's the end of it?
The next day, he represented Taiwan in the East Asian Junior Championships and successfully won the table tennis men's singles championship, which is an official debut in the international arena.
Later, in the 2014 Thailand Junior Table Tennis Open, he was even more powerful, and won the championship in the men's singles competition, men's doubles competition and men's team competition!
Of course, although Lin Yunru's performance is excellent, it is far from enough to say that the world is invincible.
This is not in the 2015 China Youth Table Tennis Open, Comrade Peng Feilong told Lin Yunru with an absolute advantage of 3 to 1 What is called heaven outside the sky, and there are people outside the world.
In the 2018 Hungarian Table Tennis Open U21 men's singles final, Lin Yunru was beaten 4-0 by table tennis veteran Ma Long and 4-1 by Zhang Jike.
Alas, sure enough, the world table tennis competition is basically fought by Chinese in the end.
However, although Lin Yunru is not so strong in the face of these long-established Chinese masters, it should be forgiven, after all, he is still young.
But the problem is that there are many young table tennis players in Chinese mainland.
This is not in the mixed doubles semifinals of the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships, where Lin Yunru/Zheng Yijing lost 1-3 to Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha and stopped in the top 4;
In the first round of the men's singles of the 2021 ITTF WTT World Cup Finals, Lin Yunru lost 0-3 to Wang Chuqin.
But even so, for Hao Shuai, who is over forty years old and has long been out of the golden period of athletes, Lin Yunru is enough to beat him.
This has to make people sigh, playing table tennis in China is indeed a hellish difficulty.
It's really hard to get out of the way.
Resources:
Baidu Encyclopedia--Hao Shuai, Lin Yunru
Baidu Encyclopedia - Liu Guoliang's beating incident