Qin Huachang's judgment still carried considerable authority. Silver Ball Dance had actually opened betting on the match between Wang Chao and Bai Feng long ago. At first, Wang Chao's odds were 1.01, with everyone unanimously favoring him.
Later, Qin Huachang kept emphasizing that this would be an intense match and a real test for Wang Chao. That influenced many people's judgment, causing Wang Chao's odds to plummet to 1.87.
And now, Qin Huachang changed his tune again, saying that the gap between the two sides' pre-match preparations was enormous. Within just three minutes of him saying that, Wang Chao's odds rose back to 1.51.
Meanwhile, at the venue in Germany thousands of miles away, Bai Feng finally served after dragging things out for an entire chapter.
He went directly for a Sneak Long Serve, targeting the deep wide angle of Wang Chao's forehand.
In truth, that went against conventional table tennis logic.
Bai Feng was also exceptionally skilled at handling short balls over the table. After all, he was one of the rare penhold players. In this era, where penhold had been almost completely crushed by shakehand in nearly every metric, it still stubbornly retained two major advantages: finer touch in short-table exchanges, and more powerful forehand kills.
So when it came to control and delicacy in short-table exchanges on the right half of the table, Bai Feng even dared say that he was no worse than Sun Tianlong.
Yes, it was really that outrageous.
The reason Bai Feng was not known worldwide for his short-game placement and touch was certainly because his Penhold Backhand Loop was too famous. But the fundamental reason was that the penhold grip was inherently lacking, without the deadly shakehand backhand flick over the table.
Without a backhand flick, no matter how well you handled