Chinese National Team will have their last Olympic Warm-Up Match streamed on CCTV from 8-10 July 2021 before Tokyo Olympics. With about 2 weeks to go, everyone should be as close to Olympic shape as possible.
Olympic Shape or Not?
Chen Meng's back-to-back losses to Chen Xingtong hit the headline. The first defeat happened on 8 July when Chen Xingtong secured a 2-0 lead with her lightning fast aggressive attacks and outstanding consistency. Despite levelling the game to 2-2, Chen Meng couldn't turn the momentum into a victory and lose 4-2. The national team coach arranged a re-match on 9 July. As expected, it was a tough match for Chen Meng which she saved 2 games from a 0-3 deficit. Perhaps due to the intensity and pressure of the match, she suffered a leg cramp at the sixth game and was defeated at 4-2. The national team coaches planned to give Chen Meng a break on day 3 but Chen Meng insisted to compete and won 3-0 over Zhang Rui, who emulates Mima Ito's style and 4-3 over Fan Zhendong in the 'Battle of Sexes' played under special rules. Sun Yingsha also experienced an unexpected defeat on day 1. She lost by a narrowest margin to Zhang Rui but was able to redeem herself on 9 July winning 4-1.
Doubles, Troubles?
Mixed doubles will be the first table tennis medal in Tokyo, whereas the doubles matches will be the first match of a team match under the new Olympic team format. Thus, the Chinese national team pays extra attention on the doubles in the Olympic preparation. In order to pose challenges to China's sole mixed doubles pair at the Games, the team specially arranged a men's-doubles-versus-mixed-doubles match played between Sun Wen / Xue Fei and Olympian Xu Xin / Liu Shiwen. The match turned out to be a 7-game thriller and is definitely worth watching.
Given that the doubles rules stipulate that server must serve diagonally from the server's right-hand side, an all-lefty doubles pair is a rarity in doubles matches. However, Japan, with 2 lefties on the men's lineup, are very likely to shock their opponents with such rare combination in the team event. For this reason, Fan Zhendong / Wang Chuqin played against the lefty duo Lin Gaoyuan / Zhou Yu to try out their tactics. The match wasn't as one-sided as one may expect but the camera angle for is a disaster. What a pity!
Women's doubles, I believe, is the achilles heel of the Chinese women's Olympic team. Well, it is still very competitive in the world of table tennis but not as dominant as the other events. This does reflect in the warm-up match which Chen Xingtong / Qian Tianyi posed challenges to Olympic pairs Liu Shiwen / Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha / Wang Manyu on both day 1 and day 2.
Battle of Sexes
The 'Battle of Sexes' marks an exclamation mark to the Warm-up Match on day 3. 6 Olympians, 3 representing each team split by gender went head-to-head over 3 shortened matches in the best of 7 games format. Each match starts at 8-6 for odd-number games and 9-8 at the alternative ones with female players enjoying a 1-2 points lead at each game, so as to test whether players can deliver when it counts. With nothing to lose, the women's side show more aggressiveness and consistency in the battle, winning 2 matches. While Ma Long saved face for the men's team winning 4-2 Liu Shiwen with his versatility in his services and backhand side chop.
Names to Note
Olympians aside, the match featured a few emerging Y2K prospects. They are Yuan Licen who defeated Liang Jingkun and Ma Long, the reigning junior national champion Lin Shidong who was dubbed by the fans 'Xiao Xiao Pang' aka 'Little Fan Zhendong' and a bright lefty from the women's team, Kuai Man.
Since it's a warm-up match, it seems to me that Tokyo Olympians are saving their best for the real test to be held 2 weeks later. So, what matters is not the results but the lesson learnt.
Results
Battle of the Sexes! Love it! ✧*。٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*。
ReplyDeleteVery amusing indeed.
DeleteZhu Yuling? Injured? Retiring? Fed Up?
ReplyDeleteThere's no news about her retirement and she did take part in the Mock Olympics held in late-May. I believe she hasn't retired. Moreover, the Chinese National Games will be held in mid-September and Zhu Yuling will definitely take part in it. Therefore, I believe she is still in competitive form. Perhaps Zhu Yuling's playing style doesn't make her the best practice partner for Olympic preparation, that's why she didn't show up in the warm-up match.
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