The Chinese table tennis team officially announced the lineup of the 2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships today, the women's singles defending champion Liu Shiwen did not appear on the list, Liu Shiwen also responded to the absence through social software -
Liu Shiwen's singles journey at the World Table Tennis Championships was quite bumpy, and in 2009, Liu Shiwen, who participated in the singles competition of the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, broke through all the way to the top 4. However, a good start did not help her soar, in 2011, Liu Shiwen lost to Ding Ning in the semi-finals, and in 2013 and 2015, she lost to Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning respectively. In 2017, the ambitious Liu Shiwen once again launched a attack on the championship, but in the semifinals, she lost 3-4 to teammate Zhu Yuling and broke again. In 2019, participating in the 10th year of singles at the World Table Tennis Championships, Liu Shiwen finally lifted the women's singles gold cup and successfully refined.
Liu Shiwen took the initiative not to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships, Li Falcon stressed while respecting Liu Shiwen's choice, "In fact, Liu Shiwen also showed a good competitive state in the Tokyo Olympic Games cycle and the just-concluded National Games, although she could not participate for personal reasons this year, I still hope that she can continue to maintain her state and make new contributions to the development of the team and even table tennis in the new cycle." ”
This is the first time that chinese women's table tennis has not had a world table tennis singles champion in the lineup since the 1999 World Table Tennis Championships in Eindhoven, and the head coach of the women's team, Li Falcon, believes that the Houston World Table Tennis Championships opportunities and challenges coexist, "When the Tokyo Olympics were mainly young players, now the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, we still have to play the momentum of young players and work hard." Like Chen Meng, to impact the Grand Slam at this World Table Tennis Championships; Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu have all registered three items, can they impact the triple crown; Chen Xingtong, Wang Yidi, and Qian Tianyi must also strive for the championship for the first time. These are the highlights of the game and the challenges that the players face. I hope that through this World Table Tennis Championships, the overall strength of the women's team can be thicker and make a good start for the Paris Olympic Games. ”