In the men's team semifinals of the Busan World Table Tennis Championships, the national table tennis men's team narrowly defeated South Korea 3-2 and advanced to the finals. Although the ball was won, some fans ridiculed that the National Table Tennis Team was resting on its laurels! The 35-year-old Ma Long, 28-year-old Lin Gaoyuan, and 27-year-old Liang Jingkun, the national table tennis men's team, can be called an uncle team, and they have indeed received a huge impact. So, why is it so difficult to defeat these old faces in Korea?
First, the national table tennis semi-finals and finals lineups are fixed and can easily be counted to death. We don’t have a surprise player like Matsushima Terukora.
In addition to the fact that the national table tennis team competes according to the world rankings in the competition, we were first counted to death by our opponents in the formation of the team. Fan Zhendong will definitely be the first singles player. If the veteran Ma Long plays 5 games in both sets, he may not be able to run in the end. As the only post-2000 player among the main players, Wang Chuqin lacks experience in competitions and his ability to win two sets is not trustworthy, so he can only play the second singles role.
The Japanese men's team had a huge impact on the national table tennis team. They suddenly adjusted Matsushima Terukong to the second single and almost overturned Fan Zhendong. The National Table Tennis Team didn't know until an hour before the game that Matsushima Terukong was going to play against Fan Zhendong, and that he would be sharpening his skills before the battle, so he quickly watched his technical video. Whether it is playing against South Korea or Japan, the lineup of the national table tennis men's team is fixed, and we cannot send out surprise players like Matsushima Terukong. Liang Jingkun has hard power, but poor adaptability. Lin Gaoyuan's psychological quality in foreign battles is not good, so he can only be used by Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, and Ma Long. Isn't this just resting on one's laurels?
Secondly, the technical characteristics have been understood, and the Koreans’ success rate in home battles is too high.
Although South Korea did not send any new players, it was still the same old faces, but it also dragged the Chinese team into the decisive game. Why is this? Mainly due to two factors: First, I am too familiar with the playing styles of the three main players in the national table tennis team. Zhang Yuzhen, Li Shangzhu, and Lin Zhongxun have been playing with the National Table Tennis Team for many years. They can still draw a few lessons from their failures. They knew that the Koreans had no chance of fighting overtly and overtly to maintain their strength, so the three Korean players all adopted the tactics of fighting in the first three boards.
In this game, they fought with high quality and hit rate, which really makes people scratch their heads. In particular, Malone showed too much control in the decisive game, but his opponent showed no mercy from the beginning to the end and just fought resolutely to the end. After losing this set, the Koreans still took a 2-1 lead. Second, those who are barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes leave the pressure to the national table tennis team. South Korea is playing at home, and reaching the semifinals is enough for them, but can the national table tennis team afford to lose? Those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes. Fighting for the next game is a game, and fighting for the next set is a set. South Korea has indeed done this.
Third, the national table tennis team does not need to play fighting, but to increase the ability to withstand opponents and fight for a few boards.
Some fans said that if the Japanese team fights and the Koreans fight, can’t we fight them? The answer is: No! Why? The reason is: there is no limit to the tactics of fighting. You can get points by fighting on stage, but if you fail to fight, you will still kill eight hundred enemies and lose one thousand to yourself. We can take a look at Japan's Mima Ito. Due to the lack of strength in the raw rubber stalemate, Ito could only bite the bullet and fight in the first three boards. Faced with a high-quality explosive arc, Ito's error rate in fighting is very high and the risk is very high.
Therefore, fighting tactics are not suitable for national table tennis. The advantage of the National Table Tennis Team is that we must strictly control it to make the opponent more difficult to fight. In addition, we must withstand the opponent's fighting quality in the first three boards, and then reach our most solid stalemate stage. If we make mistakes in fighting the opponent in the first three boards, the entire game will be lost quickly, and we will not be able to gain the advantage in the back. South Korea's shooting percentage in this game is indeed very high, but can they achieve such a high rate in every game?
Judging from the games against Japan and South Korea, the lineup of our national table tennis men’s team is too fixed, and no newcomers from the post-2000 generation have stepped forward.The Busan World Table Tennis Championships is also a preview for the Paris Olympic men's team. Japan and South Korea will definitely give us a greater impact in Paris. I hope Liu Guoliang and his team are prepared for difficulties. Everyone thinks that after narrowly defeating South Korea 3-2, is the national table tennis team resting on its laurels? Why is it so difficult for us to fight against old faces?
