On November 2, Beijing time, the second round of the WTT Challenge held in Slovenia was held. Zhou Qihao, whose national table tennis men's team has attracted much attention, lost 2:3 to Belgian Kossolski (11:13/11:7/8:11/11:4/14:16). Zhou Qihao encountered a round of travel in this foreign war, which surprised all fans.
Civil war master Zhou Qihao
Zhou Qihao and Fan Zhendong are both players from Guangdong. Two people of the same age and starting from the same starting point. But the trajectory of development has changed dramatically since then. When Fan Zhendong gradually showed his prominence in the first team of national table tennis and finally sat on the absolute main player, Zhou Qihao was always far behind Fan Zhendong.
However, 2021 is the year of Zhou Qihao's outbreak. First, in the first direct competition held by the national table tennis in May, he defeated Ma Long and Fan Zhendong in the semi-finals and finals to win the singles championship. In the table tennis competition of the National Games held in September, he also won the men's team championship with Fan Zhendong and other teammates. In addition, in the Table Tennis Super League that ended in October, Zhou Qihao represented Shandong Weiqiao in the final to defeat Shandong Luneng's Wang Chuqin 3:2, scoring a key point for the team to win the final championship.
In 2021, Zhou Qihao basically defeated ma long, Fan Zhendong, and Wang Chuqin, the main players of the national table tennis frontline. Due to Zhou Qihao's good civil war results, he also received a very valuable ticket to the Houston World Table Tennis Championships.
The foreign war results are hard injuries
Why Zhou Qihao has such a big gap with Fan Zhendong is actually due to the fact that his foreign war results are very unstable. From 2018 to 2019, Zhou Qihao followed the national table tennis team 13 times, but as many as 11 times lost to foreign association players. Such a dismal result undoubtedly hindered his pace of becoming a main force. In 2021, Zhou Qihao's civil war results were outstanding, so the national table tennis once again threw the opportunity to him. Even in order for Zhou Qihao and others to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships, he sacrificed the opportunity of veterans such as Ma Long and Xu Xin to participate. It's so that he can prove himself in international competitions.
This time, Wang Chuqin, Zhou Qihao, Liu Dingshuo and others were sent to Slovenia to warm up. It is also to lay the foundation for them to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships. I just didn't expect Zhou Qihao's foreign war results to be bad. Zhou Qihao encountered a round of travel, which fully shows that he needs the experience of the competition. When facing a relatively unfamiliar player like Belgian player Kosso Loski, it is necessary to adjust the mentality hard. Zhou Qihao's ability is still there, and what is needed now is experience.
From this point of view, veterans such as Ma Long and Xu Xin are very necessary for Xian. You have to let the young players go through the tests. Otherwise, no matter how good the results of the civil war are, it is not a long-term solution to frequent explosions in the international arena. Young players such as Zhou Qihao either grow up in defeat and thus become stronger. Or after being inspected many times, it is still unable to bear the responsibility and can only be eliminated. The national table tennis team continues to select the strongest players to stay in the main squad.
Zhou Qihao's loss was not a bad thing. It fully shows that Liu Guoliang's upgrading of the national table tennis is too timely.
Original article, welcome to follow the comments.