The atmosphere on the field in the afternoon was far less lively than in the morning, and many players looked solemn.
Because the matchup has been determined, and the pace of the game is bound to be extremely fast under the new rules, everyone is silently thinking about how to use the rules to defeat their opponents.
In a corner of the court, veteran Kimchi Country Zhu Shixian was giving instructions to young player Li Zhengzhi who was about to play.
In the other corner of the court, Bay Island veteran Zhuang Huishen is also giving instructions to junior Lin Zijun.
Then the game begins.
When the referee blew his whistle, he pressed the button on a special timer, and 24 minutes instantly jumped to 23 minutes and 59 seconds.
This timer will not stop during the entire game, whether it is a pause before the player serves, a break after a game, or a wipe of sweat in the middle. In short, as long as the game is not over, it will keep counting down until the time elapses and enters fast5.
Seeing the rapidly changing numbers on the timer, a sense of urgency that was completely different from that in a regular game arose in every player's mind.
When the bystanders saw the referee tossing the coin in an orderly manner and asking the players to guess heads or tails, they felt anxious and wished that the referee's movements would be doubled.
In the end, Li Zhengzhi got the right to serve.
At this moment, Li Zhengzhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhu Shixian, who was watching the game from the sidelines, also breathed a sigh of relief.
This is what the commentator of the live sports channel far away in Kimchi Country said at this moment.
"This time T2 Diamond Match has only two super first-class players, namely Lin Zijun and Mizutori Hato. However, our country's Li Zhengzhi player was very unlucky and met Lin Zijun in the first round."
"Li Zhengzhi player has played eight open tournaments in the past year and more. He is very diligent and has the courage to fight on the court. He has shown the competitive style of our great Kimchi Country and also proved that he is a first-class player in the world table tennis world."
"Actually, if he had been lucky, he would have had a chance to reach the semi-finals in this T2 and win another international medal for our country. Unfortunately, he met Lin Zijun, so now it is very important to perform on the spot. Player Li Zhengzhi must fight hard, and most importantly, he must get the right to serve first, because player Lin Zijun's ball counting and game-making abilities are too strong."
"Now, player Li Zhengzhi has successfully won the right to serve, let us look forward to him surpassing himself!"
"This is definitely a high-level battle between dragons and tigers!"
Far away in the imperial capital, in a room of Chinese Table Tennis training base, several big bosses were "building the Great Wall" while taking a break from their busy schedules. Apparently they felt that the game was lackluster. Only Qin Huachang, the talkative one, looked up at the TV while playing cards and made a casual comment. "There is no suspense in this game. A first-rate player plays a second-rate player. If you have brains, you will have no brains. Japanese penhold single-ply blade will play in a double-sided arc. Isn't it just fun to fight with extreme speed and brute strength?"
So, noticed?
Kimchi Country commentator believes that this game is a first-rate match against a first-rate one, while the Chinese believe that this match is a first-rate match against a second-rate one.
Everyone's criteria for judging are different.
The Japanese penhold single-ply blade mentioned by Qin Huachang, in fact, the full name should be "Sakura-style cypress wooden straight board", which together with the traditional Chinese straight board are known as the two mainstream straight boards in the table tennis industry.
The traditional Chinese straight board is oval. The biggest difference from the horizontal board is the length of the racket handle. As for the shape of the board, there is no obvious difference from the horizontal board. However, the Yingzhi is different. Its upper part is square. Compared with the Chinese straight board, the square area is larger and the center of gravity of the entire racket is lower. This leads to a significant decrease in the fineness and flexibility of the ball in the table, making it difficult to fully control.
But its advantages are also extremely obvious. Once it steps back from the table to pull the ball or rush forward, the killing power of Yingzhi is at least 30% stronger than that of Hua Guo's straight board, or even more.
In a sense, Sakura Nao was designed specifically for stalemate and explosive charge.
As for the single cypress, it is because good cypress has excellent elasticity and softness, so the baseboard made of a whole piece of cypress also retains these advantages. However, the output of Chinese cypress is extremely low, so the so-called Japanese penhold single-ply blade is rarely used by Chinese people.
But the wonderful thing is that the real inventor of this racket is Sakura Country, but Japanese penhold single-ply blade disappeared from Sakura Country many years ago, but it has always been popular in Kimchi Country. There is at least one Japanese penhold single-ply blade player in almost every Kimchi Country national team.
At this time, Li Zhengzhi serves, which is directly a Reverse Spin long ball.
This is also a characteristic of Japanese penhold single-ply blade players. They don't like fighting within the table and like to use various methods to guide the ball into the middle table or far table.
The final rotation direction of the ball sent by Reverse Spin depends on the swing direction of the player's wrist at the last moment when the racket touches the ball. It is extremely delayed and gives the opponent a very short reaction time to judge the rotation. Therefore, once the opponent reacts a little slowly, it is easy to have problems when catching the ball.
Therefore, when faced with this kind of ball, many players will choose to be stable and wait for a while before passing.
But because this is a long ball from the baseline, unless you have a very good hand, it will probably be a long ball when you rub it over, and then Japanese penhold single-ply blade player can choose to directly hit the ball.
In this way, we successfully entered the COSCO Taiwan stalemate.
Li Zhengzhi also planned this.
However, he underestimated Lin Zijun's judgment and reaction.
As soon as his racket touched the ball, Lin Zijun already knew the direction of the ball's rotation. Then he started directly, moved his body forward, and directly hit the rising ball.
He didn't want to challenge the ball on the stage, because it was difficult and easy to commit suicide, so Lin Zijun directly sent the racket forward and left the ball to the left of Li Zhengzhi, and it was about to fly out of the stage from the side.
This is definitely a wonderful shot that shows the fineness of the hand. The power of the originally menacing ball was almost completely removed by this move, and the direction also changed suddenly, as if it did not obey the laws of physics.
Just this gesture attracted a lot of applause from the stands.
Li Zhengzhi was taken aback and hurried over to save the ball.
At this time, the specialty of Li Zhengzhi is revealed: it can run especially well.
It should be said that every Japanese penhold single-ply blade player is extremely capable of running, and their ability to run back and forth and sprint is absolutely perfect.
Because this kind of straight board has only one side covered with rubber, the other side is usually directly painted black with paint to distinguish it.
The black side is not used when actually playing ball.
Different from the Huaguo candy bar and Penhold Backhand Loop, the Japanese penhold single-ply blade is purely one-sided. No matter where the ball comes from, I always catch it with one side.
Then someone may ask, what should I do with a backhand ball? Just by pushing and blocking? Isn't that very passive?
Not like this...
Sakura Nao's correct response is: I don't care which corner you hit me, I must run to the left side of the ball as fast as possible, and then use my forehand to blast hard.
You hit me on my forehand, and I'll charge straight away.
If you hit me on the left, I will run hard to the left, to the left of the ball, and continue to rush.
What matters is that one person is faster than the ball.
So everyone who Japanese penhold single-ply blade makes a name for himself has one talent by default: Ironman.
"Ironman" triathlon.
Commonly known as "running without death".
Li Zhengzhi was like this at this moment. The ball was obviously about to come out from the left side of the table, but he actually ran to the position one step ahead and forced the ball over.
Then Lin Zijun made another move and moved the ball to the far right side of the table.
Li Zhengzhi In an instant, his body stopped suddenly, turned back, took a big step, and actually went around from the left side of the table to the right side in just one second, and continued to hold the ball over.
Then Lin Zijun hit the ball in the table. The power was not very strong, but he hit the ball to the left side of the table again and scored easily.
1:0.
After the ball was played, the commentators on the Korean sports channel continued to lament, but the big bosses in the Chinese imperial capital were not even interested in taking another look.
Yes, there is no suspense in this game. Lin Zijun's style is too smart, and it completely defeats Japanese penhold single-ply blade of Li Zhengzhi.
As expected, the score in the first game rose quickly. In just four minutes, the first game ended with a final score of 11:3.
From the beginning to the end, Li Zhengzhi never found a chance to rush, because no matter how he played, he could not lead the ball into a stalemate.
After defeating Luo Jiu a month ago, Lin Zijun once again demonstrated his exquisite control of the ball on the table and his unparalleled touch in front of people all over the world.
Later in the game, Li Zhengzhi even threw the ball high and then forwarded the topspin, trying to force the ball out of the table, but Lin Zijun actually made a very authentic slice at the critical moment.
It's like a chipping veteran who has been chipping for seven or eight years.
The ball was so sharp that even Zhu Shixian, who was watching the game on the sidelines and known as "World's Number One Chopper", couldn't tell there was anything wrong with it.
This is certainly not because Lin Zijun has really practiced chipping hard.
It's because his touch is so good that he can control the ball down to the smallest detail even when he's sharpening his skills in front of a battle or making a whim.
There is no logic to this thing, it is simply an amazing talent.
Li Zhengzhi was beaten to death.
The high-tossed ball with added spin was already the ball with the strongest power, the strongest spin, and the fastest speed that he could think of. Even this ball could be controlled by Lin Zijun into a small ball on the table. He had no choice but to admit defeat.
So the second game ended in just five minutes, with the score 11:2.
Then Li Zhengzhi completely collapsed.
In fact, Kimchi Country table tennis players are known as "tough" in the world table tennis world. Their playing style is just like their national character. Although they are narrow-minded and paranoid, they are stubborn enough and will never give in easily.
Li Zhengzhi is also a determined person.
He played eight open tournaments in a year, won a bronze medal and many semi-finals, semi-finals, and semi-finals. He gave his best in every game. At the age of only 19, his body was scarred and his legs were swollen. The amount of running he did in a year was even more than many people in a lifetime, which shows how hard he worked.
But he really couldn't stand this kind of restraint that was like a natural enemy. My body didn't collapse, but my mentality collapsed.
The third game was 11:2 again.
After three games, Zhu Shixian walked over to him during halftime, whispered to him, and advised him to play slower and there was no need to be so hasty. After all, this is a strange rule of the 24-point system. The dominant side should be anxious, while the disadvantaged side should want to enter the fast5 stage.
And Lin Zijun is a newcomer after all. Although he is very powerful now, that is because he has made too few international appearances and has not been seen through. As a newcomer, there must be flaws. Maybe they will be exposed in the blink of an eye?
So, if you drag it, grind it, change the mode, play fast5, maybe you will have a chance to make a comeback?
This is a veteran's experience.
But Li Zhengzhi refused.
He is still young and thin-skinned, and he does not want to lose without dignity.
So in the last game, he played faster and served the ball as soon as he got it, without even bothering to think about it.
No matter how much you think about it, you can't compare to the Bay Island boy opposite.
So the fourth game ended at 10-0 in just three and a half minutes.
Lin Zijun lives up to his name, he is quite a gentleman. After Li Zhengzhi served the last ball, he just closed his eyes and took a swipe at the board and knocked the ball away.
Refusing to shave my head starts with me.
The score became 10:1.
Li Zhengzhi also has a temper. You can obviously shave my head, but you choose not to. Who are you looking down on?
On his next serve, he committed suicide and sent the ball under the table, causing laughter in the outfield.
So the score was fixed at 11:1.
The four games, including breaks between games, took only 18 minutes in total.
Li Zhengzhi, ranked 14th in the world, was eliminated in the first round, and was blocked by Lin Zijun, ranked 20th in the world, in an almost brutal way.
After the game was over, Yoshikawa Dai Moku came on the stage, loudly announced the players for the next game, and in Sakura Country's unique middle-secondary accent, read the information about both sides impassionedly, trying to create a feeling of excitement.
But the professional players on the sidelines didn't listen much. They were still in a state of shock and couldn't extricate themselves.
Although the game process is clear at a glance, when I think about it now, I wonder if the ball was played too fast?
Is Li Zhengzhi weak?
A 19-year-old youngster, relying solely on his own strength, managed to reach the 14th place in the world rankings in one year, using Japanese penhold single-ply blade, which has long been eliminated by the mainstream table tennis style. He is definitely not weak, and is even among the top young players in the world.
Sakura Country has been playing Zhang Benkuang for so long, but don't forget, Zhang Benkuang's world ranking is not as good as Li Zhengzhi.
Since Li Zhengzhi is not weak, we can only say that Lin Zijun is too strong.
Lin Zijun is so strong and unobtrusive that the process of defeating Li Zhengzhi seemed a bit uneventful. Only by reviewing this record and the specific score of each game after the fight can we deduce how strong he is from the theory of results.
Far away in the imperial capital, the four bosses finally looked up at the screen again. Cai Guodong exclaimed, "This kid has the style of Sun Tianlong."