Jiang Jialiang, a leading figure in national table tennis in the 1980s, won the 1985 World Table Tennis Championships in Gothenburg and the singles championships at the 1987 World Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi. With his handsome appearance and superb ball art circle fans, his idol temperament is no less than today's Ma Long and Zhang Jike.
At that time, the national table tennis "handicap" became a common practice, considering the foreign players who may be encountered in the next round, we A and B players who are more advantageous to advance, the leader will arrange to let the ball; even if the Chinese player has already met the final, the leader will also arrange the handicap. Even a very bullish "first brother" like Jiang Jialiang is sometimes troubled by this.
In July 1986, the 7th World Cup was held in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. The Chinese team sent Jiang Jialiang, the men's singles champion of last year's World Table Tennis Championships, and Chen Longcan, the runner-up, and the team leader coach was Xi Ending.
On the eve of the expedition, head coach Xu Shaofa came to Xi Ending's bedroom and handed him a letter: "You take it, it is estimated that it may not be used." ”
Xi Ending: "Old Xu, if I really use it, then should I say so?" ”
Xu Shaofa: "You don't say anything, I said everything in my letter." ”
Xi Ending nodded, shook his head again, and sighed.
After flying for more than ten hours, the three masters and apprentices came to Port of Spain.
On the first day, in the group round robin, Jiang Jialiang and Chen Longcan both won all three games and were promoted to the final eight eliminations. The next day, in the quarter-finals, the two also passed the level smoothly. In the semifinals, Jiang Jialiang eliminated South Korea's Jin Huan, Chen Longcan defeated Hong Kong's Lu Chuansong, and China locked in the championship in advance.
Half an hour before the final, Jiang Jialiang was doing pre-match preparation activities, Xi Enting called him into the locker room, took the letter from his pocket and handed it to him. "This is what Mr. Xu asked me to give to you."
Jiang Jialiang was very puzzled and quickly opened the letter. The letter began: "Jialiang, when I wrote this letter, I was also very conflicted and hesitated for a long time...", "If you meet Chen Longcan in the final, please ask you to give him the championship." After all, you have already won the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Cup, and you don't care about this one. Long Can has not been easy in recent years..." Xu Shaofa also revealed a "secret" to Jiang Jialiang in the letter: In the men's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships in Gothenburg last year, Chen Longcan lost 0-3 to him, which was also arranged by the coaching team.
Jiang Jialiang frowned slightly, "What if I lose halfway with Long Can this time?" ”
Xi Ending smiled and said, "Then, I will burn this letter." Saying that, he patted Jiang Jialiang's shoulder and turned away.
Jiang Jialiang held the letter and fell into contemplation. He suddenly realized that his victory in the World Table Tennis Championships was arranged behind the scenes of the leadership, and he thought that in fact, I could almost win without helping, wouldn't it be superfluous, what was the matter? ...... Moreover, before leaving, Lao Xu did not have to face the instructions, engaged in a "trick and tricks", it is clear that it is to pay off the debt and do not want to bear a little more human feelings, it is really a thief spirit ...
However, thinking in a different position, for more than a year, the Long Can brothers have not said a word, never mentioned it, and are indeed a good brother! People in the jianghu, friendship is important, peach in return, of course...
At this time, Jiang Jialiang did not have any sad look, and a helpless smile appeared on his face.
In the men's singles final of the 1987 World Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi, Jiang Jialiang beat Waldner 3-1 and staged a wonderful "Battle of the Century".
In the quarter-finals, Waldner swept Chen Longcan 3-0; in the semi-finals, he beat Teng Yi 3-0. The coaching team considered that Chen and Teng might not be able to stop "Xiao wa", so they took precautions, and hui jun and Chen Xinhua 0-3 in the quarter-finals and semi-finals allowed Jiang Jialiang to easily pass the pass in order to save physical strength. Since Chen Xinhua had already won the World Cup in 1985, it didn't matter; in return, in return, in the mixed doubles final after the men's singles quarterfinals, Jiang Jialiang/Jiao Zhimin gave way to Hui jun/Geng Lijuan.
——In the game, Jiang Jialiang said and laughed, and took good care of the cold beauties around him. However, Jiao Meinu, who innocently lay down her gun and once again lost the world table tennis championships, kept her face from beginning to end, and after playing the game, she did not even shake her hand with Hui Jun/Geng Lijuan and turned away.
In July 1987, the 8th World Cup in Macau. Jiang Jialiang and Teng Yi played. China's "Brothers Company" went all the way to the top four. In the semi-finals, the Polish twins Gruba and Kuharski were eliminated respectively, and the final of the division was eliminated. In accordance with the leadership arrangement, Jiang Jialiang gave up the World Cup to his little brother Teng Yi, who had never touched a singles gold medal.
At the 1989 World Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, the Chinese men's team lost 0-5 to Sweden. In the men's singles quarterfinals, Jiang Jialiang was ordered to give way to Yu Shentong, and the coaching staff wanted the young player to rush to see if he could beat Person, and the result was less than a 1-3 loss.
If there is no such "interlude", will the career of a generation of ball king Jiang Jialiang be more brilliant?