“Chinese Team’s Quest for Five Championships: The 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban”

Original title: The World Table Tennis Championships in Durban is about to start – (quote)

Guoping launched an impact on winning five championships (theme)

Guangming Daily reporter Wang Dong

The 2023 World Table Tennis Championships will be held in Durban, South Africa from May 20 to 28. This is the first time that the World Table Tennis Championships are held in South Africa, and it is the first time that Africa has hosted the World Table Tennis Championships since the Cairo World Table Tennis Championships in 1939.

This year’s World Table Tennis Championships in Durban is a single event. There will be 128 players in men’s and women’s singles, and 64 pairs in men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The Chinese team, consisting of 12 players including 6 men and 6 women, will launch an impact to win five championships.

On May 18th, the Organizing Committee of the World Table Tennis Championships held a lottery ceremony. Fan Zhendong and Wang Manyu of the Chinese team, as the men’s and women’s singles champions of the last World Table Tennis Championships, were invited to participate in the lottery ceremony. The table tennis tournament kicked off.

In the lineup of the Chinese team this time, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, and Lin Gaoyuan played in the men’s singles competition, while Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, and Chen Xingtong participated in the women’s singles competition. Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong were sent for the men’s doubles, Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu, Chen Meng/Wang Yidi faced off for the women’s doubles, and Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha, Lin Shidong/Kaiman participated in the mixed doubles contest.

According to the latest world ranking released by the ITTF, Fan Zhendong, who ranks first in men’s singles, played as the top seed, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long were the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds respectively, and Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan were the No. 5 and No. 8 seeds. They will guard four areas respectively. Among them, Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan are in the third area, and Liang Jingkun and Japanese player Zhang Benzhi are in the second area.

Since the beginning of this year, the above five Chinese men’s singles players have been relatively stable. In the World Table Tennis Professional League (WTT) Xinxiang Championship and Macau Championship held in April, they all showed good condition: Fan Zhendong and Liang Jingkun won the championship and runner-up respectively in Xinxiang Station; Wang Chuqin and Ma Long will be in the final of Macau Station Lin Gaoyuan won the men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles championships in the WTT Challenge Bangkok Station.

In women’s singles, the Chinese team’s Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi, and Chen Xingtong occupy the top 5 in the world rankings and are also the top 5 seeds in this competition. From the point of view of the lottery, Wang Manyu and Chen Xing are in the same four districts, and the other three guard one district each. Among them, Chen Meng and Japan’s Mima Ito share one district. This lottery distribution creates favorable conditions for the Chinese players to meet in the final. At the last World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, Wang Manyu, Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, and Wang Yidi won the top four.

In the previous two WTT championships, the Chinese team won the women’s singles semi-finals twice. Together with the subsequent WTT challenge in Bangkok, the five players all won and lost each other. It can be said that their level is between equals. The strength of the impact of the championship also makes the final championship of the Battle of Durban full of suspense.

At the 2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese team won a total of 4 championships. In addition to the singles champions of Fan Zhendong and Wang Manyu, the mixed doubles champions were Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha, and Sun Yingsha also partnered with Wang Manyu to win the women’s doubles championship. From the perspective of strength, it is entirely possible for these two pairs of players to continue to win the championship in Durban.

Among them, Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu are currently ranked No. 1 in the women’s doubles world. They have won two consecutive World Championships and two WTT Singapore Grand Slam women’s doubles championships, which can be called the “ace combination”. Although Chen Meng/Wang Yidi is a new pairing, the two have strong overall strength and have shown certain competitiveness in the WTT Singapore Grand Slam.

In the mixed doubles competition, the previous champions Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha are now ranked first in the world and have won championships in many competitions. Another young pair of mixed doubles, Lin Shidong/Quaiman, is currently ranked seventh in the world, and is the highest-ranked combination in the world except Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha in Guoping.

Men’s doubles was the only event that the Chinese team failed to reach the top of the last World Table Tennis Championships. In this competition, Guoping sent two pairs to participate. Among them, Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin have relatively rich experience. Compared with the last World Table Tennis Championships, the two have experienced many international competitions and their tacit understanding has improved. Another pair, Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong, is a brand new partner. The selection of the young player Lin Shidong is a strategic consideration for the coaching staff starting from echelon construction and facing the Paris Olympic Games and the 2028 Olympic Games. The two won the men’s doubles championship in the WTT Star Challenge Bangkok Station, and accumulated valuable cooperation experience.

As a rehearsal before the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team attaches great importance to this World Table Tennis Championships. They have set their goals long ago and are determined to launch an impact on winning five championships again. In order to prepare for this competition, the Chinese team not only directly linked the results of the WTT event with the qualifications of the World Table Tennis Championships, but also specially held two direct matches of the World Table Tennis Championships within the team. Liu Guoliang, chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, said: “This World Table Tennis Championship is also an important opportunity to select the Olympic team. The national table tennis team must win gold medals for morality, style, and cleanliness.”