Zhu Ding's battle against Mizutori Hato once again showed the world table tennis scene what Chinese table tennis was all about.
When they had first arrived in Sakura Country, no one had thought highly of this unknown team sent by Chinese table tennis. Even Sakura Country's praise for Wang Chao carried the unmistakable scent of conspiracy. Everyone in the industry had been eagerly discussing who would win between Mizutori Hato and Lin Zijun.
But after a single day, four Men's Singles matches had been played, and Chinese table tennis had won three of them.
Without anyone noticing, Chinese table tennis had claimed three of the eight Men's Singles quarterfinal spots.
And if one looked more carefully at the matchups in each section, an even more terrifying conclusion could be drawn: all three Chinese players had an excellent chance of reaching the semifinals.
Wasn't this simply the usual state of affairs whenever those fierce Chinese national team men competed in major events over the years?
The five main players had not come this time, and three unknown nobodies had arrived instead, yet the prospect of three Chinese players making the semifinals had not changed at all.
The world table tennis scene could only pray that Lin Zijun would eliminate Wang Chao and keep Chinese table tennis from meeting itself in the final.
A European sports magazine had only just defended itself by saying, "Uncle Bai didn't even compete, so this cannot represent Europe's true level," when a slew of other European media outlets jumped in and fired back in the same tone:
"Sun Tianlong didn't even compete, so this cannot represent Chinese table tennis's true level."
"Xiao Fei didn't even compete, so this cannot represent Chinese table tennis's true level."
"Bai Feng didn't even compete, so this cannot represent Chinese table