In the early morning of November 5, Beijing time, the first eliminated world champion appeared in the table tennis wtt Slovenia Challenge, she is the former national table tennis star and now Luxembourg athlete Ni Xialian.
In the first round of the women's singles showdown, the 58-year-old Ni Xialian fought hard for 5 rounds, consecutively blasted 11-1 and 11-2 scores, and still lost to 18-year-old Russian Elizabeth - it seems that she is indeed incorruptible and old, although the technology is still pure, but the body is really unable to keep up, unfortunately!
Born in 1963, Ni Xialian was the main player of national table tennis together with Guo Yuehua, Cai Zhenhua, Cao Yanhua and others, and won the world table tennis championship in 1983, 38 years ago. Later, Ni Xialian went abroad to develop, played all over the master in Europe, and constantly won gold medals and medals in the European Championships and European Cups, which can be said to be dominant.
But the good man is difficult to mention the bravery of that year, this year Ni Xialian is 58 years old after all, although she is a direct shot of long glue play, not much physical exertion, but competitive sports still have to rely on the body to eat, Ni Xialian is no matter how brave it is difficult to stop the laws of nature, as a result, we saw a very dramatic game in this Slovenian competition.
Facing the Russian youngster Elizabeth, who is 40 years younger than herself, Ni Xialian first fought hard until 12-14 to lose the first set, but then she hung her opponent 11-1 in the second set and 11-2 in the third set.
However, even if there was such a huge difference in points, Ni Xialian could not change the physical gap between herself and the youngsters, and as a result, she lost 8-11 in the fourth set and lost 8-11 in the fifth set, so she missed a great situation and was won by Elizabeth in two consecutive sets - this was Ni Xialian's first match in Slovenia, and the result became the final battle.
From this competition, as well as the showdown with South Korean youngster Shin Yubin (17 years old) at the Tokyo Olympic Games, we can see that Ni Xialian's skills actually have its own uniqueness, and the average athlete will indeed be very uncomfortable, but she must cut the mess quickly in the first few rounds, and the fast decision can only be made, and the more she drags on the back, the more she can't keep up with the rhythm of young people, and finally losing is inevitable.
But for Ni Xialian, winning or losing is actually not important: she has won the world championship and the European championship, and now at the age of 58, she still insists on fighting, just for the sake of happy ping-pong. Soon, we will see the veteran at the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, so let's wish her happiness to continue and share it with all fans: Come on!