"No one can afford to lose two points in the final"
This is a sentence that Chen Meng, the main member of the Chinese women's table tennis team, said in an interview after the women's team final of the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships in Busan.
The World Table Tennis Championships team competition is a best-of-five system, and the lineup of the Chinese team in the women's team final of the Busan World Table Tennis Championships is Sun Yingsha playing one single, Chen Meng playing two singles, and Wang Yidi playing three singles.
After the end of the fourth set, the two sides drew 2-2, in which Sun Yingsha of the Chinese team scored two points, Chen Meng lost one point, and Wang Yidi lost one point.
In the fifth tiebreaker, Chen Meng withstood the pressure and finally helped the Chinese women's table tennis team successfully win the team championship, which is why Chen Meng said this in the post-match interview.
In the talent-rich national table tennis team, if a player loses two points in such a major competition, then she may be directly abandoned and her future will be greatly affected.
However, in the history of national table tennis, there is no shortage of players who have lost two or even three points in the finals of the World Championships (the previous men's sports competition was a best-of-nine system).
The one we want to talk about today is that he lost three points twice in the team finals of the World Championships, but at the same time he was the best player in the Chinese men's table tennis era.
A player like him who has made great contributions, but at the same time made huge mistakes, can't find a second person in the Chinese table tennis world.
He is Liang Geliang, the leader of Chinese men's table tennis in the 70s, let us walk into his table tennis world today:
One
Liang Geliang was born in Yulin, Guangxi Province in 1950 and is 74 years old this year.
Liang Geliang's mother and father were in an arranged marriage, and Liang Geliang's mother was very discriminated against in her husband's family, and she was not even allowed to give birth at home, so Liang Geliang was born in a cowshed.
Later, after the founding of New China and the liberation of Guangxi, Liang Geliang's mother complained to the government because she couldn't stand the abuse of her husband's family, filed for divorce, and returned to her hometown Yulin Town with Liang Geliang, who was still in infancy.
At that time, the whole country was in ruins, and Guangxi, which had just been liberated, everyone was living in poverty, and Liang Geliang's mother had no breast milk because of her nutrition, so she could only feed her son with gruel and vegetable soup.
At that time, it was very difficult for a lonely and helpless woman to support a child, so many people persuaded Liang Geliang's mother to remarry, but Liang Geliang's mother was stubborn and said: "No matter how hard it is, I will pull Ah Liang to adulthood." ”
Later, under the care of the government, Liang Geliang's mother was arranged to work as a worker in a small street business in the town, with a salary of 30 yuan a month, so she could barely make ends meet.
When he reached the age of going to school, Liang Geliang first studied in Xijiao Primary School, and later transferred to Guding Primary School, where Liang Geliang met Zeng Chuanqiang, a "gold medal coach" from Guangxi, and Liang Geliang began to form an indissoluble bond with table tennis.
Zeng Chuanqiang was already a champion at that time, so he was also very famous at school, and he was the idol in the eyes of children like Liang Geliang.
As mentioned earlier, Liang Geliang's family was very poor when he was a child, and he relied on his mother to work as a worker in a factory to maintain the life of the mother and son.
But for her son to practice table tennis, his mother is very supportive, but due to limited conditions, the rackets and training shoes that his mother bought for Liang Geliang are basically the cheapest.
Although the sensible Liang Geliang doesn't say it, he is actually very envious of those children who use good rackets in his heart, which his mother sees in her eyes.
Therefore, Liang Geliang's mother worked overtime desperately to save money, so she was able to scrape together enough money to buy Liang Geliang the best racket at that time.
According to Liang Geliang's own later recollections, this racket was only 7 yuan, but at that time he could buy a load of rice, enough for their mother and son to eat for a few months.
His mother's unsparing support made Liang Geliang work harder in training, and he set his ambition at that time: "I want to be an excellent table tennis player and win glory for the country." ”
In this way, Liang Geliang was later selected by the Yulin County Amateur Sports School and began to practice in the Yulin County Workers' Club.
According to Liang Jiaye, the former coach of Yulin County Table Tennis Amateur Sports School, recalled: "Liang Geliang competed to consult the coach every time, and it took two or three hours to practice. ”
The young Liang Geliang was competitive and strong, often pestering the coach to play games, and he was willing to stop until he had to win a game, and sometimes the coach deliberately lost to him when he felt that it was too late, which inspired Liang Geliang to train harder.
Two
When Liang Geliang was practicing in Yulin County, his former idol Zeng Chuanqiang had entered the national team.
In 1964, Liang Geliang was selected by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Sports School and officially became a professional athlete.
It was also in this year that Zeng Chuanqiang returned to his hometown to participate in the athletes of the autonomous region, and happened to be paired with Liang Geliang, who had practiced together, in doubles, and the two finally won the runner-up.
With this result, Liang Geliang was successfully selected for the Guangxi youth team and was selected by the national youth team in the second year.
Being selected by the national youth team meant that Liang Geliang was leaving his hometown for Beijing, which was a good thing for others, but for Liang Geliang, it put him in a dilemma.
Let's talk about it here, Liang Geliang's mother has been sick and deaf since she was a child, although she can work in the factory, but Liang Geliang, who has grown up, is still a little relieved of his mother, because he and his mother have depended on each other for so many years, he is used to his mother, and his mother is also used to him, if he leaves suddenly, his mother will definitely not be able to adapt for a while.
But at this time, Liang Geliang's mother tried her best to persuade Liang Geliang to go outside, and the most important thing was to "cut off the poor roots".
In the end, Liang Geliang listened to his mother's persuasion, left his hometown of Guangxi, and went to Beijing for training.
After entering the national team, Liang Geliang saw many athletes he had only seen in the newspaper at that time, such as Zhuang Zedong, Li Furong, etc., which made Liang Geliang very excited.
Liang Geliang is good at learning, he learns from the strengths of others, and his skills continue to improve.
Especially at the suggestion of national team coach Wang Zhiliang, Liang Geliang began to change to long rubber, which made Liang Geliang's progress even faster with a good forehand and a quick reaction.
At that time, in order to practice the basic skills, Liang Geliang also specially cast a two-kilogram iron racket to exercise his arm strength.
When Liang Geliang entered the national team, it was the first golden period of Chinese men's table tennis, and the Chinese men's table tennis not only won three consecutive team championships at the World Championships, but Zhuang Zedong also won three consecutive men's singles championships.
Although Liang Geliang often lost to Zhuang Zedong when he first joined the team, with his potential and hard work, many people think that he will become another leader in Chinese men's table tennis after Zhuang Zedong.
But who knows, at this time, the domestic political situation has undergone serious changes, so that people from all walks of life are not interested in the affairs of their own industry, but begin to fight.
National table tennis is naturally no exception, among which Liang Geliang's faction is the opposite of Zhuang Zedong's faction.
It is also for this reason that the Chinese team did not participate in the 1967 and 1969 World Table Tennis Championships, and Liang Geliang's good years were wasted.
Probably before the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in 1971, the relevant leaders of the country felt that it was not a way to make trouble like this, and it was necessary to restore some normal order.
At that time, table tennis was China's strong point, and the prime minister felt that table tennis could help restore international exchanges, so he asked the national table tennis team to resume training and prepare to undertake foreign affairs tasks.
Because there was no formal training for several years, many people in the national table tennis team at that time had no bottom in their hearts, and after a training session, the prime minister came to the training hall to ask the people present how the reserve force of table tennis was, and the people present were silent.
So, the prime minister turned his head and asked Zhuang Zedong, who had the best Chinese men's table tennis performance at that time, and Zhuang Zedong said: "There is one named Liang Geliang." ”
Because, at that time, Liang Geliang and Zhuang Zedong belonged to two factions, so Liang Geliang was very moved to hear that Zhuang Zedong was able to recommend himself to the prime minister.
Not long after, the national table tennis team members made a table tennis training report for the prime minister.
In that game, Liang Geliang and Zhou Lansun had a fight, and Zhou Lansun's level was also very high, known as a heavy gunner, and his blocking was also good.
Liang Geliang is a long rubber racket, mainly chipping the ball, and the serve is aggressive, and Liang Geliang won Zhou Lansun in that game.
The prime minister is also an expert in table tennis, and after watching this game, he was very happy and asked Liang Geliang: "Where are you from?"
Liang Geliang replied: "Guangxi Yulin people."
After listening to this, the prime minister had a few words with Liang Geliang on the spot in the Yulin dialect of Guangxi.
After this game, Liang Geliang became the main player of the national table tennis team.
Three
At the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in 1971, Liang Geliang not only partnered with Zhuang Zedong to win the men's doubles championship, but also defeated the 30-time World Table Tennis Championships men's singles champion Japan's Shigeo Ito in the men's team final, helping the men's team win the team championship again after 6 years, and the 21-year-old Liang Geliang was called the "secret weapon" in that game.
It was also during the World Table Tennis Championships that Cohen, an athlete of the United States team, boarded the wrong bus, thus triggering the famous "table tennis diplomacy" between interaction with Chinese table tennis player Zhuang Zedong.
Liang Geliang was an eyewitness to this incident, according to his later recollection, one day Cohen said that he wanted to practice with Chinese players when he was training in the Chinese team, and named him to practice with Liang Geliang: "I was young at the time, and I didn't have any worries, so I played with him for a while." ”
After that, United States table tennis delegation visited China, and then the Chinese table tennis delegation visited United States, at first Liang Geliang's name was not on the list, and finally the prime minister specially instructed that "Liang Geliang" be added to the list.
In 1973, the 32nd World Table Tennis Championships was held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and Liang Geliang won the mixed doubles championship with Li Li, and also won the team runner-up with his teammates.
In this World Table Tennis Championships, with the retirement of the older generation of athletes such as Zhuang Zedong and Li Furong, Liang Geliang has grown into the absolute main player of Chinese men's table tennis.
But in the men's team final, Liang Geliang lost three points alone.
In fact, because of the special environment in China at that time, many people were mentally prepared for the defeat of the World Table Tennis Championships, after all, years of chaos have made all walks of life a little green.
However, Liang Geliang also lost to Sweden's bench player Wijkström in this final, which is considered by many industry insiders to be the most undeserving game.
It can be said that it is precisely because of Liang Geliang's abnormal performance that the Chinese men's table tennis team failed to win the men's team championship in the end.
If this situation is put to the present, not to mention losing the main position, at least it will be hidden for several years, for example, in the 2010 Moscow World Table Tennis Championships women's team finals, Liu Shiwen lost two points by herself, making the Chinese women's table tennis lose the women's team championship.
After this World Table Tennis Championships, Liu Shiwen not only directly missed the London Olympics, but also failed to get an Olympic singles quota throughout her career.
But as mentioned earlier, because of years of chaos, the reserve strength of the national table tennis team is very poor, although Liang Geliang performed poorly in the men's team final of the 32nd World Table Tennis Championships, but no one in the national team has been able to replace him for the time being.
After that, Liang Geliang also participated in 3 World Table Tennis Championships.
At the 33rd World Table Tennis Championships in Kolkata in 1975, Liang Geliang finally led the Chinese men's table tennis team championship again, and he also cooperated with Zhang Li to win the third place in mixed doubles.
At the 34th World Table Tennis Championships in Birmingham in 1977, Liang Geliang and Li Zhentan cooperated to win the men's doubles championship, and also won the men's team runner-up and men's singles third place.
In 1979, at the 35th World Table Tennis Championships in Pyongyang, Liang Geliang cooperated with Ge Xinai to win the mixed doubles championship, and Guo Yuehua won the third place in men's doubles, and he also won the second place in the men's team and the third place in men's singles.
Let me say here that the 35th World Table Tennis Championships is different for the national table tennis team from previous sessions, the domestic political situation at this time is basically stable, and the instructions given by the leadership to the coaching staff of the national table tennis team do not need to consider anything, just go to the championship.
Therefore, the national table tennis generals at that time were full of confidence under the leadership of head coach Li Furong, but who knew that the men's team was unfavorable in the group stage and lost directly to the Hungary men's table tennis.
At that time, Liang Geliang was ranked second in the world, and although he was 29 years old, he was still the absolute main force of men's table tennis, but who knew that he lost three points again in this game.
In the end, the Chinese team and the Hungary team entered the men's team final, considering that Liang Geliang lost three points against Hungary in the group stage, the coaching staff did not let Liang Geliang play in the final, but used newcomer Lu Qiwei.
In terms of hard power, Lu Qiwei is naturally not comparable to Liang Geliang, but Liang Geliang failed against the Hungary team, so although Liang Geliang did not play in the final, in the end, many fans were still blamed on Liang Geliang's head for the loss of Chinese men's table tennis.
Because of this, Liang Geliang became the only player in the history of national table tennis who lost three points in two team competitions, and both times led to the loss of the national table tennis championship.
But at the same time, Liang Geliang was the best player in Chinese men's table tennis in the 70s, participated in 5 World Table Tennis Championships, won gold medals in 5 World Table Tennis Championships, and Liang Geliang also won two Asian Games singles championships and other good results.
After the 35th World Table Tennis Championships, Liang Geliang retired, after which he went to Germany to play, during which many people suggested that he become a German citizen, but Liang Geliang always insisted on not being a coach of the Germany national team and not becoming a German citizen.
In 1997, Liang Geliang, who had been abroad for 17 years, returned to China, and after returning to China, he became a professor at Peking University Health Science Center, teaching table tennis knowledge.
Later, after retiring, Liang Geliang also established a table tennis club, and now over 70 years old, Liang Geliang still insists on playing every day, in his own words: "As long as I can walk and stand, I will continue to play." ”
The above is Liang Geliang's story, welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss!