(Tokyo Olympics) National Ping Pong loses gold for the first time in 17 years: the most difficult "gold", still failed to win

　　China News Service, Tokyo, July 26. Title: Guoping lost gold for the first time in 17 years: the most difficult "gold" was still not won

　　China News Agency reporter Xing Chong

　　The "gold" that is difficult to get, after all, still failed to win.

"Sorry, I'm sorry for the whole team." Liu Shiwen cried after the game.

　　In the mixed doubles table tennis match at the Tokyo Olympics on the 26th, the Chinese combination Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen suffered a tragic turnaround and lost to the host players Mizutani Hayabusa/Ito Mima.

This is the first time that the Chinese team has lost gold in table tennis since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

On July 26, the first gold medal in table tennis was awarded at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the mixed doubles final, the Chinese combination Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen suffered a reversal after winning two games first, defeating the Japanese combination Mizutani Hayabusa/Ito Mima 3-4, but unfortunately won the silver medal.

The picture shows Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin in the playing field.

　　For the national table tennis with countless highlights in the Olympics, this mixed doubles gold medal is indeed the most difficult one to win. This is the first table tennis mixed doubles gold medal in the history of the Olympics, the first table tennis gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and even more so. The one gold that the host Japan desperately desires.

　　Since table tennis became an official event in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Chinese team won 28 of 32 gold medals in the 7 Olympic Games. Table tennis associations of other countries and regions have had difficulty winning gold in men’s and women’s singles and team events. Vulgar Japan "knows well" of this.

　　Taking advantage of the opportunity of hosting the Tokyo Olympics, Japan proposed to enter the Olympics in mixed doubles as a breakthrough point for the gold medal in table tennis.

This wish is not unrealistic.

For many years, the Chinese Table Tennis Association has been "strategic abandoning" the development of mixed doubles in order to promote table tennis internationally.

In the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships, the Japanese team Maharu Yoshimura/Kasumi Ishikawa won the mixed doubles, which made the Japanese team eager to try the Olympic gold medal.

　　The Chinese table tennis team has always produced talents in large numbers. In international competitions, team and singles events often have "double insurance" guarding the upper and lower halves.

The Tokyo Olympics table tennis mixed doubles competition stipulates that each country or region can only send a pair of players to participate. This rule undoubtedly increases the possibility of gold for the Japanese team.

　　Perhaps, as early as Japan actively promoted table tennis mixed doubles to enter the Olympics, the script for this Sino-Japanese confrontation had already been written.

On July 26, the first gold medal in table tennis was awarded at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the mixed doubles final, the Chinese combination Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen suffered a reversal after winning two games first, defeating the Japanese combination Mizutani Hayabusa/Ito Mima 3-4, regretting to win the silver medal.

The picture shows Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin on the runner-up podium.

　　Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen are regarded as an excellent combination of table tennis mixed doubles-Xu Xin has strong left-handed, straight, and far-field skills, and Liu Shiwen has good right-hand, horizontal and near-table skills. The combination of the two is perfect.

　　However, although Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen made few misses after their debut in the international arena at the end of 2018, the two are not without weaknesses.

For example, both of them are over 30. Last year, Liu Shiwen suffered a prolonged injury period and suspended training and games for nearly a year.

And this increased the chances for the opponent to win the championship.

　　The Japanese team sent Mizutani Hayabusa/Ito Mima to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, both of whom are from Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and from the same club. They have been paired together for four years.

However, they lost to Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen three times before, and they were not sure about winning the Olympics in the interview before the final.

　　Although the script for the finals has been written, the process is somewhat unexpected-the Chinese team won the first two consecutive rounds but was beaten by their opponents for three consecutive rounds. After dragging the game into the final round, the mentality completely collapsed, allowing the opponent to play out. Unbelievable 0:8, and finally lost strength.

　　When interviewed in the mixed mining area, Liu Shiwen was crying, and Xu Xin seemed to be in a daze.

"The first two rounds were not bad. Three or four rounds were not released. After the opponent beat us a few times, the quality of his own ball dropped. When falling behind, the technical and tactical routines were not so clear." Xu Xin said.

　　He also said that, unfortunately, he failed to give the two a best ending.

Three years later, there is a high probability that neither of them will participate in the Paris Olympics again.

　　Hayat Mizutani, who has won medals in the Olympics and World Championships many times, said after the game quite meaningful: "Chinese players have always been high mountains. We have made breakthroughs when climbing mountains. This shows that Chinese players are not gods, but also human beings."

　　The long-term development of a project is bound to be under healthy competition.

Only when the competition continues to improve, no matter how hard it is to get the lost "gold", it will eventually be won in the future.

(Finish)