Asian Cup, created in 1983, is a competition which invites Asia's top table tennis athletes to compete for the men's singles and women's singles title (team events were held in 1993, 1995 and 1997). Since only 16 men and 16 women are invited to the tournament, the competition schedule is much shorter but more exciting. Unlike the World Championships which top athletes can step things up gradually with, sometimes, one-sided matches in play in the early round, intense matches are often played from the start to finish at Asian Cup.
Starting from 2013, Asian Cup is a qualifying event for the World Cup, making the competition more intriguing to watch. To the Chinese team, at least in the past 20-ish years, the worlds results for the top Chinese athletes are good enough for them to qualify for the World Cup. Therefore Asian Cup is more of a trial to test how good the up-and-coming Chinese athletes are against the top Asian table tennis athletes. In 2017 Asian Cup, the Chinese team send Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan for men and Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling for women. All of them, except Liu Shiwen who has won 4 Asian Cup champion, is going to strive for their first Asian Cup champion in India in 2017.
Asian Cup Medalists
The Chinese has dominated the past 30 Asian Cups and swept the podium in 1983 and 2009. The list of past Asian Cup medalists can be found below many of them were the bright rising stars of the Chinese team.
Moments at Asian Cup
I have not followed every Asian Cup as some were played before I was born but I have done some research and picked 6 special moments at Asian Cup (from the Chinese perspective). I have tried my best to find videos and results of the matches but those in the early days are missing. Let me know in the comment box below if you know the links to the videos and the results.
1.) 1996: Beginning of the Legendary Clashes Between Wang Liqin and Ma Lin
According to the interviews and reports, it is well-recognized the 1996 Asian Cup marked the beginning of the 17-year rivalry between the 2 legendary athletes, Wang Liqin and Ma Lin. In the men's singles finals, 16-year-old Ma Lin won over 18-year-old Wang Liqin and claimed his first continental men's singles titles.The 2 athletes contributed many unforgettable matches including the 2007 Worlds men's singles finals, 2008 Olympics men's singles semifinals etc. after their first international encounter at 1996 Asian Cup.
2.) 2006: Chen Qi Lost The Champion As Well As Sportsmanship
There are times that athletes get emotional after the match but any acts should be done in an appropriate manner. The men's singles finals at 2006 Asian Cup was an all-Chinese showdown. Chen Qi put up a tough opening in the first 2 games but lost 14-16 and 10-12 to Wang Hao. He ran out of patience in the third and fourth games and lost 2-11 and 3-11. As a result, Wang Hao sealed the match with a 4-0 victory. This was Chen Qi's forth 2nd place within 2 months. Perhaps he was mad about his performance, he smashed his rackets on the floor and kicked the chairs after the match. His misbehaviour was disgusted by the audience. Although his national team coach, Xiao Zhan, made him apologize not long after the incident and there was no punishment from the ATTU, the national team made Chen Qi do labour work in a remote village in Hebei province as a punishment. Chen Qi's stories have been widely told among the Chinese table tennis world as to remind athletes to mind their behaviour in competitions.
3.) 2008: Feng Tianwei Proved Zhang Yining Is Not Undefeatable
2008 is the year of the Beijing Olympics. The Chinese were well-prepared and expected to win every medal of the table tennis event. However just 5 months before the Olympics, Feng Tianwei emerged into the scene at 2008 Asian Cup. Feng Tianwei's speed had a slight edge over Zhang Yining and her pivot forehand shots were aggressive in the match. Against the odds, she defeated world ranked no.1 at the time, the ace of Team China, Zhang Yining 4-2 (9-11, 12-10,11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10) in the semifinals. Although she lost to Guo Yue in the finals, the Chinese were alerted to the rise of Feng Tianwei and Zhang Yining made her revenge in the women's singles at Beijing Olympics.
4.) 2014: Fan Zhendong Fell Short Of Winning the Champion
Since 2013 Chinese Trials, Fan Zhendong has been assigned to compete in many international competitions.Winning all non-Chinese athletes is the basic requirement for him while challenging the top Chinese players is his ultimate goal. Fan Zhendong almost win the title but he paid the price for being inexperience and lack of versatility and lost 3-4 to Ma Long.
5.) 2015: Fan Zhendong Fell Short Of Winning the Champion Again
As one of the most promising young athletes of the Chinese national table tennis team, Fan Zhendong was sent to compete at 2015 Asian Cup again. Xu Xin was his opponent in the men's singles final and it was again a 7-game match. It was a close match until the 7th decisive match when Xu Xin took the opportunity to extend his lead. As a result, Fan Zhendong settled for second again losing 3-4 to Xu Xin.
6.) 2015: Feng Tianwei's Belated Asian Cup Champion
Previously, we mentioned Feng Tianwei's victory over Zhang Yining at 2008 Asian Cup. In the following years, Feng Tianwei has been one of the biggest competitors of Team China. In 2010 World Team Championships, Feng Tianwei led Team Singapore winning a historic women's team champion. In 2015 Asian Cup, she defeated Doo Hoi Kem (4-2), Fukahara Ai (4-3) in the quarterfinals and semifinals. In the finals, Feng Tianwei played aggressively especially with her pivot forehand shots to Liu Shiwen's body. She finally won over Liu Shiwen 4-2 and claimed the belated Asian Cup champion.
Can Liu Shiwen make this year her fifth or Zhu Yuling will make it her first? Fan Zhendong was so close to the champion in 2014 and 2015 can he make it this time or underdog Lin Gaoyuan will sneak that title away from him? Or there will be more non-Chinese athletes winning their spots on the podium? We will know the answer in the coming 3 days.
Thanks for reading the very special edition of Throwback Thursday. Unfortunately, with many competitions coming up, I do not think I will have the time to make weekly updates for Throwback Thursday. The blog will follow news about the Chinese national team after the National Games and 2017 CTTSL. There will be also more translation videos coming up regarding the National Games held in the last few weeks. Thank you, Stef for providing some great suggestions for writing a post about Asian Cup.
Feel free to comment below (anonymous comments are available)! I would love to hear your views on this blog and the competitions.
References:
王励勤与马琳"英雄相惜" 对决十几年朋友一辈子
摔球拍踢凳子讲粗口 亚洲杯陈玘输球砸场面临重罚
亚洲杯-张怡宁2-4不敌冯天薇 国乒一姐无缘四强
Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament. Wikipedia
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