CTTA released a nominative list of athletes to attend the 2019 World Championships in Budapest this April. The list comprises Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun and Wang Chuqin for the men and Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Sun Yingsha and Zhu Yuling for the women. While mostly an accurate glance at those set to attend, the team can finalize the lineup before 18 April.
There are really no surprises on the men's singles lineup. Reigning men's singles world champion Ma Long, winner of the Marvellous 12 and world ranked no. 1 Fan Zhendong, 2018 Australia Open Xu Xin, 2019 Hungarian Open champion Lin Gaoyuan and the 1st runner-up of the Marvellous 12 Liang Jingkun, make up the five who will compete in the men's singles at 2019 WTTC this April.
The men's doubles lineup comes up a bit unexpected. Ma Long will pair up with post-00 Wang Chuqin making their men's doubles international debut at the 2019 WTTC and Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun who did not have their best showing at 2019 Portugal Open may get a chance to achieve a more satisfying result at the World Championships.
I would have imagined Xu Xin playing the men's doubles as he owns the most men's doubles world title (2011, 2015, 2017) among the squad but he is not doing it. Perhaps the coaching team would like to have him putting more focus on the mixed doubles which will be the first table tennis medal at the 2020 Olympics. It seems that this year isn't really about winning the men's doubles (the men's and women's doubles results are not considered in the performance appraisal), instead, it's about testing the unknowns and trying out every possibility before the Olympics. Who knows if one of them will be the crucial piece to fit into the Olympic puzzle?
Choosing the squad comes down to far more than precedent one's set in the past when the team has so much depth. Maybe this is a coincidence, the nominative roster for the women's singles includes athletes finished top 5 at the Marvellous 12, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, Ding Ning, Wang Manyu and Liu Shiwen, while Zhu Yuling who placed 6th at the Marvellous 12 and has competed in every women's singles at World Championships since 2013 is not on the women's singles lineup.
For the women's doubles, Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng are no stranger to the World Championships. They won bronze in 2013 and silver in 2017. So they are probably the duo who will carry high expectation from the team and looking for a podium finishing in Budapest this April. The other pair of women's doubles the Chinese has named to the World Championships is Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha which is a new collaboration but I believe with their outstanding ability, they will form a very competitive pair as well.
Since the mixed doubles was not an Olympic event before 2020, it used to be less significant to the Chinese team and often was an opportunity for the rookies to gain more international experience. However, with the event being introduced to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese team did an about-face sending their strongest mixed doubles pair, Xu Xin / Liu Shiwen and Fan Zhendong / Ding Ning to the 2019 WTTC.
The 2019 World Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary from 21 to 28 April. The Chinese nominative roster for 2019 WTTC is listed as follow:
Men's singles: Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun
Women's singles: Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Chen Meng. Wang Manyu, Sun Yingsha
Men's doubles: Ma Long / Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan / Liang Jingkun
Women's doubles: Chen Meng / Zhu Yuling, Wang Manyu / Sun Yingsha
Mixed doubles: Xu Xin / Liu Shiwen, Fan Zhendong / Ding Ning
Anything can happen in table tennis and you never know who will burst onto the scene in the coming month. After all, this is just a nominative roster and the Chinese has the history of making last-minute changes. We will have to wait till 18 April for the finalized World Championships roster.
Source: CTTA
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