Asian Games Foresight ｜ National Table Tennis Sword Finger 7 Gold Goals Continue to Defend the Glory of National Games

The table tennis competition of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou will be held from September 22nd to October 2nd in the Gymnasium of Gongshu Canal Sports Park in Hangzhou, which will produce 7 gold medals in men’s and women’s teams, singles, doubles and mixed doubles. As the king of the China sports delegation, the China table tennis team has sent all its main teams to win 7 gold medals at home and continue to defend the national glory.

The Asian Games is often called the "senior high school entrance examination" before the Olympic Games, which plays an important role in discovering talents, training teams and testing the effectiveness of preparations. China first participated in table tennis in the Asian Games in 1974, and has won 66 gold medals so far. In recent three Asian Games, table tennis produced 19 gold medals, 18 of which were won by China team. In this Asian Games, the primary task of table tennis is to train for Paris, and to keep defending the glory of the national ball with the sword pointing to the goal of 7 gold medals.

Recently, Guoping won all seven gold medals during the Pyeongchang Asian Championships and returned home with a full load. Walking off the podium, everything starts from scratch. After a brief rest, all the main players have arrived in Hangzhou and started field adaptation training in the venue. Liu Guoliang, Chairman of the Table Tennis Association, is the leader of the Asian Table Tennis Team. Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Malone, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, the "Five Golden Flowers" of men’s table tennis, and Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Manyu Wang, Wang Yidi and Chen Xing, the "Five Golden Flowers" of women’s table tennis, are all listed. Liu Guoliang said that the Hangzhou Asian Games is the last comprehensive event before the Paris Olympic Games. In terms of home pressure and competition atmosphere, the test of athletes is more comprehensive than that of the World Table Tennis Championships, and the team will focus on me and defend its honor.

In the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, there were no men’s and women’s doubles events, and Guoping finished with a total of 5 gold medals. In Hangzhou Asian Games, men’s doubles and women’s doubles were added to table tennis, which is also a big challenge for the athletes who are involved in the event. Li Sun, the head coach of China Table Tennis Team, said in an interview with the media that the team has made targeted arrangements for concurrent events in closed training, and through actual combat simulation, the athletes’ ability to rationally allocate energy and physical strength while taking care of multiple events has been cultivated.

At present, the absolute dominance of Guoping in Asian table tennis is still hard to shake, and its main competitors are mainly Japanese, Korean and China. Zhang Benzhihe and Lin Yunru are both outstanding young people, and they all have certain strength to impact the national table tennis players. Hayata Hina, Ito Meicheng, Shen Yubin and other female players are relatively difficult to compete with the "five golden flowers" of table tennis. In recent years, South Korea’s doubles have risen rapidly, among which Zhang Yuzhen/Lin Zhongxun, Tian Zhixi/Shen Yubin ranked first in men’s and women’s doubles respectively, and their strength should not be underestimated. South Korea’s mixed doubles group Lin Zhongxun/Shen Yubin, ranked third in the world, is also a strong contender for the gold medal.

The table tennis competition of this Asian Games was held in Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium, which produced seven gold medals. The first is the group match between men’s team and women’s team, which will start on the morning of September 22, and the team final will be held on September 26. Guoping will attack the men’s team for eight consecutive championships and the women’s team for five consecutive championships. Subsequently, the table tennis event of the Asian Games will enter the individual schedule. The mixed doubles champion will be decided on the evening of September 30th, the men’s doubles and women’s singles finals will be held on the evening of October 1st, and the women’s doubles and men’s singles finals will start on the evening of October 2nd.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhou Xueshuai

Editor/dorri