The first mixed team World Cup came to an end, and the Chinese team easily won the championship
The three unpopular defeats deserve the vigilance of national table tennis
From the ups and downs of winning 8-5 in the Sino-Japanese battle the day before yesterday to the hearty 8-1 victory in the decisive battle between China and South Korea yesterday, the Chinese team finally successfully topped the first ITTF Mixed Team World Cup, and the South Korean team and the Japanese team ranked second and third respectively. As a training battle for next year's Olympic Games, the national table tennis won the expected championship in Chengdu, but it also encountered tests and exposed problems.
The newly established first mixed team World Cup did not receive widespread attention from the outside world before the competition, and many famous players from foreign associations were absent from the competition. For example, although the German team is the No. 2 seed in the tournament, the main players are all absent this time: Ocharov, Qiu Dang, Francesca, Duda and other men's singles players did not participate, and the two German women's singles players ranked in the world, Han Ying and Mittram, are also absent; In the European powerhouse Sweden team, the World Championships men's singles runner-up Moregard and men's doubles star Falke were not seen; The Chinese Taipei team also has a number of key players absent.
The absence of famous players should have made the road to the championship of national table tennis smooth, but this is not the case, and many young players from foreign associations have brought an unexpected impact. In the seven-day competition, the national table tennis was upset three times in the mixed doubles, men's singles and women's singles, and it was the newly rising post-00s power in the world table tennis who defeated Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha, Fan Zhendong and Wang Manyu.
In the Sino-Japanese war the day before yesterday, 22-year-old Hayasuke Togami and 15-year-old Miwa Zhang reversed Sun Yingsha/Wang Chuqin 2-1, especially in the second game, the Japanese pair, ranked only 19th in the world, actually put the world's No. 0 mixed doubles pair into a 7-<> dilemma. Sun Yingsha thought after the game that she was playing a little conservatively where she should have scored; Wang Chuqin said that he should be more assertive, should not follow the opinions of his teammates too much, "should be more active at critical times, stand up more, and share more pressure for Sasha." The defeat exposed the weaknesses of the "Shatou" combination in terms of technical and tactical coordination and on-the-spot communication. A day later, in the championship and runner-up match, the adjusted "Shatou" did not let the upset happen again, and faced the "wonder soldier" Shin Yubin/Ahn Jae-hyun sent by the Korean team, and the Chinese pair won the game in straight games.
The big upset in the men's singles field was created by Tomokazu Zhangmoto. The 20-year-old Zhang Benzhihe has not been happy this year, and in this mixed team World Cup, he lost to South Korea's first brother Zhang Yuzhen in the men's singles field, and the men's doubles was completely defeated. But in the face of the national table tennis players, Zhang Ben seemed to be riveting, and lost two games in straight games 11-3 and 11-6, which made Fan Zhendong not slow down. "It's a great way to sum up." "Little Fat" said after the game that Zhang Benzhihe had a lot of changes as soon as he came up, and the speed at which he got rid of it was not enough, resulting in a very passive whole set. Zhang's victory also exposed Fan Zhendong's draw, which was the fourth time this year that "Little Fat" has lost a foreign war, after losing to 16-year-old South Korean teenager Cho Dae-sung, 20-year-old French teenager Alex Lebrun and South Korean veteran Lee Sang-so. In this mixed team World Cup, Alex's younger brother, 17-year-old Felix Lebrun, put Fan Zhendong into a three-game battle, and Lee Sang-so also won a game from Fan Zhendong yesterday.
The Women's Singles also had its share of upsets, with 23-year-old Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz beating Wang Manyu 10-12, 12-10, 11-8. Wang Manyu said after the game that he made a needless mistake when he was leading 10-9 at the end of the second game, which "affected the outcome of this game". As the world's No. <> women's singles player, the last time Wang Manyu lost a foreign battle was a shock defeat to France's Yuan Jiannan at the Macau Championships a year ago.
As a training battle for next year's Paris Olympics, this year's mixed team World Cup, the national table tennis played a "bright card" - the mixed doubles relied on Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha, the men's singles relied on Fan Zhendong and Ma Long, and the women's singles sent Wang Manyu more, not the women's doubles and men's doubles of the Olympic independent competitions, and the collocation was more random. The mixed team World Table Tennis Championships has a special format of playing three games per game and winning eight games first, artificially creating some upsets. But it must also be noted that from the Asian Games to the mixed team World Cup, the national table tennis players have ups and downs in the key minutes of some games, and there is only more than half a year before the Paris Olympics. (Wen Wei Po reporter Wu Shu)