The bumpy road to the release affected the attendance rate
Many fans who watched "Chinese Ping Pong" commented that the story told in this movie has the elements that a successful sports movie must have: passion and inspiration, team spirit, counterattack in the trough, and popularity. In addition, this is also the first large-scale production film that tells the story of Guoping. Considering that table tennis is China's national sport, this movie should have a broad audience, but the reality is quite cruel. According to relevant media reports, the expected box office of "China Ping Pong" has been lowered repeatedly, from 500 million+ to the current 100 million+. Why?
First of all, although table tennis has a huge fan base in China, the "basic population" is middle-aged and elderly people, and these people are not the main audience of the movie. In addition, a large part of the target audience of "Chinese Ping Pong" should still be table tennis fans, but this movie has not been publicized and promoted through relevant sports media, which can be said to be a bad game.
The biggest problem with "Chinese Ping Pong" is that due to various reasons, the release time has been changed again and again. On August 14, 2022, at the Beijing Film Festival Film Forum, Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi, one of the producers, revealed that "Chinese Ping Pong" plans to be released on National Day. However, after the film released some materials on the eve of National Day, it fell silent. If "Chinese Ping Pong" is set for the National Day, it will definitely be more beneficial than this year's Spring Festival, because last year's National Day file had only one influential movie, "The Journey Back", and the main theme of "Chinese Ping Pong" fits with the atmosphere of the National Day. Subsequently, "Chinese Ping Pong" was changed to be released on the third day of the Lunar New Year (January 24) this year. However, on January 25, the film suddenly announced that it would be changed to a small-scale screening from January 26 and postponed to February 17 for a large-scale release. The changing release time has gradually made many movie fans lose their patience.
1995 Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships what happened?
Although the box office is average, many fans who have watched "Chinese Ping Pong" admit that this is a sports movie with a lot of heart, but the story told in the movie is indeed a bit too far away from the present, and the characters in the play are not used. Therefore, it is still necessary for us to review what happened in the 1995 Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships 28 years ago.
In the minds of the fans, Guoping seems to have always been a dream team. In fact, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chinese men's table tennis had a period of trough. In 1988, the Chinese men's table tennis team lost to the Seoul Olympics, and the three players Jiang Jialiang, Chen Longcan, and Xu Zengcai were all blocked from the top four men's singles. In the Chiba World Table Tennis Championships in 1991, the Chinese Men's Table Tennis Team only finished 7th, the worst record in team history. In the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, Chinese men's table tennis still missed the men's singles gold medal. In the 1993 World Table Tennis Championships in Gothenburg, the Chinese men's table tennis team lost to the Swedish team in the men's team final, and none of the men's singles broke into the semi-finals. Under such circumstances, the then national table tennis marshal Cai Zhenhua was determined to form a new army, and the "Five Tigers of National Table Tennis" composed of Ma Wenge, Wang Tao, Ding Song, Liu Guoliang, and Kong Linghui came into being. However, to quote a sentence describing the "Five Tigers of National Ping Pong" in the trailer of the movie "Chinese Ping Pong", their conditions at the time were: wounded and injured, blind and blind, small and small, old and old. Specifically, Ma Wenge, the team's number one player, was plagued by injuries, chipper Ding Song was highly myopic (1400 degrees of myopia and astigmatism), veteran Wang Tao was no longer in his best form, and Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui still lacked competition experience at that time. the teenager. With such a team composed of "old, weak, sick and disabled", Cai Zhenhua made up his mind to win the World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin in 1995.Turned around in the game.
In May 1995, the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships was grandly opened in Tianjin Gymnasium. Players from 126 countries and regions participated in the competition, and more than 450,000 spectators watched the competition live. The Chinese table tennis team finally won seven championships in this World Table Tennis Championships, and both men's and women's singles won the semi-finals. In the most watched men's singles final, the Chinese men's team played against the Swedish men's team, which had won three consecutive championships. Swedish star Waldner won consecutive victories over Ma Wenge and Wang Tao, helping the Swedish team once take the lead. In the fourth game, the chipper Ding Song became a national table tennis player. He upset Carlsson and helped the national table tennis equalize. After Wang Tao swept Persson 2-0 in the deciding game, he threw his racket into the air and lay down on the floor with tears in his eyes. , into glory.
Chinese men's table tennis is still facing challenges this year
28 years have passed, although today's Chinese men's table tennis is still at the top of the world's table tennis world, but it still faces a lot of challenges. After all, the team's big brother Ma Long is 35 years old this year, the new leader Fan Zhendong is still a little unstable, and the young players are a little out of date.
The biggest event facing the national table tennis this year is the Durban World Table Tennis Championships in South Africa (single event) in May this year. On February 18, the first trial of the National Table Tennis World Table Tennis Championships was held in Beijing. A total of 16 male players participated. There are veterans like Ma Long and Mesozoic players like Fan Zhendong, but most of them are young players. According to the national table tennis arrangement, the second trial will be held after the wtt Singapore Grand Slam. In the Asian preliminaries of the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships held in Doha earlier, the National Table Tennis Association has qualified for the men's and women's singles with 5 players each and the three doubles with 2 pairs each. According to the arrangement, the players who won the men's and women's singles championships in the two trials held this time will directly qualify for the singles competition in the Durban World Table Tennis Championships.
The topic is back to the movie "Chinese Ping Pong". In the 1995 World Table Tennis Championships, Cai Zhenhua led the five tigers to a beautiful turnaround. Among these 6 people, only Liu Guoliang, who is the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, is still busy for the national table tennis team. In addition, Ma Wenge is now the head coach of the Tianjin Table Tennis Team. Cai Zhenhua, Wang Tao, Ding Song and Kong Linghui have already faded out of the table tennis world. But the scene where they reversed and won the Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships 28 years ago will always remain in the memory of the fans. It is expected that the movie "Chinese Ping Pong" will inspire Guoping to play well in this year's Durban World Table Tennis Championships.
New Yellow River Client Reporter: Li Fujie Editor: Sun Feifei
