It is believed that before the start of this year's Olympic Games, many table tennis fans had great expectations for Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen to win the championship. Including the national table tennis coaching team, most people think that Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen won the mixed doubles championship at the Olympic Games is not a problem. It was only the head coach of the women's team, Li Falcon, who made worried remarks before the start of the game, and Li Falcon at that time still kept a clear head.
However, Ma Lin, the head coach of mixed doubles at the time, was bent on letting Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen win the championship as soon as possible, and largely ignored the study of competitors, or overly optimistically estimated the aging of Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen's technology. The premature call for a timeout in the mixed doubles final illustrates Marlene's mentality at the time.
In fact, there are not many people who can clearly see the strength of the veteran before the Olympic Games, in fact, the warm-up match before the Olympic Games, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen showed a very strong level of competition. At that time, a lot of shortcomings were exposed, especially once the opponent bit the score, it was difficult for Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen to reverse.
In particular, xu Xin's ability to resist pressure in the competition with Liu Shiwen is at a glance in the mixed doubles competition of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Previously, the coaching staff thought that the veterans had experience in the competition, so they insisted on using the veterans to compete. But Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen used their actual performances to prove one thing to the fans, that is, the advanced nature of the players' technology is more important than experience.
In particular, Liu Shiwen's shortcomings in receiving the serve were particularly obvious in that mixed doubles final. The return ball always appears to be high, and it always becomes a springboard for opponents to focus on attacking Xu Xin. This is what Liu Shiwen's fans think, not to see that Liu Shiwen performed poorly in the mixed doubles final, but to see that Xu Xin always made mistakes.
These fans have not wondered, why do they always make mistakes? The reason is that the quality of Liu Shiwen's return ball is not high, resulting in a continuous fighting attack between Ito Mimako and Mizutani Hayabusa. It can only be said that Liu Shiwen's fans can't understand the ball, so they always doubt others. I didn't expect that after the Olympic mixed doubles final, why didn't the coaching team let Xu Xin quit the next team competition, but let Liu Shiwen?
In fact, some fans can also see that the two veterans are not competitive enough. It's just that they have long qualified for the Olympic Mixed Doubles, and the coaching staff has not cultivated a second pair of combinations to participate in the mixed doubles competition, to put it bluntly, there is only Plan A, no Plan B. As a result, Xu Xin5 Liu Shiwen must participate even if there is a technical decline due to the postponement of the Olympic Games, as well as the lack of physical fitness caused by her age.
So this is a big lesson, which is why in this year's World Table Tennis Championships, the coaching staff will let Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha both participate in the mixed doubles competition, which is equivalent to the double insurance of the mixed doubles combination, and it is also a performance of precaution.
This shows that the national table tennis coaching staff is also learning lessons and does not want to make the mistakes of the past. At the beginning of the mixed doubles competition of the Olympic Games, there was no problem in letting two veterans participate, the problem was that when the strength of the two veterans declined, the coaching staff did not make a plan, or chose to trust the veteran.
In fact, before the Olympic Games, Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin had been exposed more than a year ago. At the German Open in early 2020, Liu Shiwen's problem of receiving the ball and risking high has been frequent. Even earlier in the year-end finals at the end of 2019, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen also narrowly defeated Mizutani Hayabusa and Ito Mimachi 3:2.
Liu Guoliang, who was watching the game at the time, rarely criticized the two veterans after the game. In fact, criticism cannot solve the problem of technological aging, and the crisis has already been exposed at that time. After the postponement of the Olympic Games, many fans suggested that the coaching staff re-choose the mixed doubles partner, but the national table tennis coaching staff instead strengthened their determination to use the veteran.
At this point, many fans still don't understand. Ding Ning is a notable example, due to the postponement of the Olympic Games, coupled with the fact that Ding Ning was defeated by Ito Mimachi before the Olympic Games began. After that, Ding Ning stayed away from the national table tennis competition and withdrew from the Olympic competition.
To say that Ding Ning's technology lags behind Liu Shiwen a lot, this is simply not a thing that does not exist. It can only be said that Ding Ning's withdrawal is to recognize the gap. The era of veterans is fading away, and the charm of table tennis lies in this. There is competition all the time, and the veteran is always the strongest, which is just the personal dream of some fans.
The real problems are there, especially the increase in the strength of foreign competitors, which has broken the inherent monopoly model of national table tennis. Veterans will have to opt out at such a turbulent moment, if their technology cannot get a breakthrough, they will have to choose to quit. Because this is the only wise choice, perseverance is not necessarily the only way out.
Many times it is very difficult to get the veteran to take the initiative to leave, after all, there is a process of acceptance in the mind. Ding Ning has taken the initiative to recognize the technical gap due to his continuous confrontation with Ito Mimachi. Liu Shiwen has not dealt with Ito Mimachi since 2018, and her understanding in this regard is not as profound as Ding Ning's.
Therefore, Ding Ning did not drag the mud and water, and decisively left. She has also become one of the first of the four veterans of national table tennis to leave, but looking at the current situation that the other three veterans have not participated in the World Table Tennis Championships, even if they do not choose to retire at present, of course, it is difficult to continue to compete as before. After all, the national table tennis team also has to continue to cultivate young players to cope with increasingly difficult challenges.
Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen's Olympic mixed doubles trip is basically the last time to participate in such a competition. After all, veteran Malone is an exception, and he has won the Men's Singles Championship at the Olympic Games, and he does have the motivation to persevere. But Xu Xin is different from Liu Shiwen, unless they can reach the current level of Ma Long.
Although the two veterans have not yet announced their retirement, fans believe it is only a matter of time. I don't know how the majority of fans and friends look, welcome to leave a message to discuss. Pay attention to the Erlang God Kan ball, bring you different life perceptions and thoughts.