When the top eight of Men's Singles were announced, the atmosphere became even more tense, because everyone could see that this Olympic Games table tennis Men's Singles competition is very likely to be the highest quality table tennis competition since the birth of the table tennis project.
No one has really touched the ceiling of table tennis in the past, but who are these people coming this time? There were two of them, either sitting on the ceiling or kicking the ceiling with their feet.
Don't think I'm just talking about the three giants of Chinese table tennis. In fact, Hook a year ago could already touch the ceiling when he was playing crazy. Although Lin Zijun's comprehensive strength has not yet reached that point, his single event Super Speed has already pierced the ceiling. It is truly unprecedented in the history of Absolute Extreme Speed.
Fortunately, his speed limit is only here. If it continues to develop, it will not be sports, but fantasy.
So the specific situation at this time is this.
In the first half, Luo Jiu faced Arul, and Sun Tianlong faced Pike.
In the second half, Wang Chao faced Bayer, and Lin Zijun faced Hook.
There is no longer any priority. All games are highlights, either tragic games, crushing games, or suspense games. No matter what game, there are enough rich connotations and enough topics for fans to talk endlessly.
Having said this, fans began to miss Qin Huachang again.
After all, half a year ago, they didn't have much to talk about in a game.
At that time, they didn't know what the characteristics of Luo Jiu's back-side rubber bombing technique were, they didn't know what Wang Chao's double-sided loop ball attack system was like, they didn't know why Sun Tianlong could just beat anyone they hit, and they didn't know that Arul What does the absolute power of's forehand mean? I don't know why Pike's backhand loop is more difficult to deal with than others. I don't know what the principle of Super Speed Defense Mode is for Lin Zijun. I don't know why Bayer can be the European King for more than ten years.
It was Qin Huachang's day-to-day enlightenment that allowed them to truly enter the industry and understand the subtle mutual restraints and complex and ever-changing technical and tactical games between the top table tennis players.
Qin Huachang is the master of the world.
"When will Anchor Qin come out?"
"It is said that when Sun Tianlong plays the finals, he will broadcast it live."
"Oh, then I support Sun Tianlong and hope he can defeat Luo Jiu."
"Oh my God, I actually prefer Luo Jiu, because I am practicing the backhand rubber bounce technique recently, and that thing is really interesting... But in order to ensure the viewing effect of the final, I must support Sun Tianlong."
"Shouldn't you think about Sun Tianlong's opponent again? If the final is a crushing game, I think I will be depressed for at least a week."
"Haha, do you need to think about it? No, right? Will there be any accidents in the lower half of the area?"
" If Wang Chao doesn't make it to the finals, I'll eat shit on the live broadcast."
"Haha, do you really think that Lin Zijun and Hook are just here to play? Yes, Hook can't beat Luo Jiu, but Anchor Qin once explained that this is because of Kings do not meet kings, but Hook may not be able to beat Wang Chao."
"If we really want to compare the strength on paper, Anchor Qin also said that Hook has a chance to beat Sun Tianlong."
"The people upstairs are all fake fans. If you have carefully studied anchor Qin's explanation, you guys should know that the person with the highest potential in the lower half is actually Lin Zijun."
"I don't care, European fans support European King, I, the German, will never admit defeat."
Since Qin Huachang became the anchor, there has been a very obvious change in table tennis forums in various countries, that is, there are more people writing technical posts. Usually, only professional experts will occasionally write technical posts on a whim, and receive a lot of praise and a lot of rainbow farts. For example, Rohlskov likes to do this kind of thing.
But now, basically anyone dares to post technical posts. As long as you spend a hundred hours in the Qin Huachang live broadcast room, you can definitely write a 10,000-word long article citing classics. If you are unable to convince the other party, you only need to say "Anchor Qin once said", and you can stand on the moral high ground and kill all sentient beings in an instant.
Its meaning is somewhat similar to the "Confucius said" of ancient scholars.
Therefore, the current table tennis forum actually has the meaning of bad money driving out good money. Although most of what Qin Huachang said is correct, under such a large number of crazy quotations and misinterpretations, all kinds of strange judgments began to appear, and began to develop in the direction of demonization.
So Rohlskov completely gave up on pretending to be online, because as long as he posts now, Qin Huachang's fans will come and argue with him angrily, and they can often argue until he has nothing to say.
After all, everyone knows that Rohlskov and Huaping are not compatible and have different opinions.
After all, everyone knows that Rohlskov's vision is indeed not as good as Qin Huachang and He Jingping.
After all, everyone knows that a professional debater cannot beat a civil debater, just as a professional champion of an international debate competition will certainly not be able to quarrel with a square dancing lady who is good at personal attacks at the market.
So haven't you noticed that even the big boss of the domestic forum Ye Hongye gave up writing articles and went to be a special guest for Brother Da Ma?
In short, in such a "fun and harmonious" atmosphere, Men's Singles 8 into 4 officially started playing on the morning of December 17th.
The first half of the game started, with Luo Jiu and Arul playing.
There was not much suspense in this game. Basically all fans recognized that Luo Jiu would win, and the result was no surprise. Luo Jiu crushed Arul 4:0.
However, if we talk about the game process, we can still mention it a little bit.
Arul is the only young player in Africa and a well-known inspirational player in the table tennis world. In fact, his overall skills are rough. His biggest advantage lies in the absolute power of his forehand, which is also an innate advantage of the black race.
It is said that the scientists of Sakura Country have done special research, and the results prove that the specific data of the maximum forehand force of Arul is 1.5 times that of Sissifield, about 2 times that of Lin Li, and about 3 times that of Fan Xiaodong.
This research is actually very interesting. On the one hand, it proved how terrifying Arul's forehand is if it explodes with all its strength. On the other hand, it also used Arul as a reference to indirectly compare the absolute power difference between Lin Li, Fan Xiaodong and Sissifield, three typical figures of the violent style.
However, in fact, the absolute lethality displayed by these three people when using the killing board in actual combat is not directly proportional to their arm strength.
For example, the absolute arm strength of Fan Xiaodong is actually only half of that of Sissifield, but when they met in the Open, Fan Xiaodong beat Sissifield to death with a backhand blow.
On the contrary, Lin Li, whose absolute power is stronger than Fan Xiaodong, was once beaten to death by Sissifield.
But in the routine assessment of Huaping, Lin Li defeated Fan Xiaodong with a forehand.
Therefore, it is not enough to have absolute strength. In addition, it is also necessary to consider the thoroughness of the force exerted, the forehand and backhand proficiency of the force exerted, and the circumstances under which the force can be exerted and under which the force cannot be exerted.
Arul is the one who suffers a serious disadvantage in terms of technique.
The reason why he has been the nemesis of German teenager Qiu Shang in the past Opens is because Qiu Shang's forehand straight play is relatively soft in the straight board category, emphasizing skills more than power. It is the racket Qiu Shang uses. It is also a type with weak friction and high accuracy of the ball in the table. This means that Qiu Shang's ball is just not enough to kill Arul, but once Arul gets reckless, it can penetrate Qiu Shang's defense.
Of course, to be able to grow up from the desert in Africa and reach the current heights, Arul's talent attributes are almost full. In a sense, he is quite like the African Hook.
But when he met Luo Jiu, it was really like a mouse meeting a cat.
Luo Jiu's backhand bounce can penetrate Arul's defense line, and Luo Jiu's forehand skills are too rich, just to the extent that Arul can't judge clearly. Therefore, according to common sense, Luo Jiu only needs to use the technical and tactical system He Jingping taught him step by step. Without any additional tactics, he can naturally crush Arul.
But Luo Jiu is not.
The current Luo Jiu belongs to the iron tree that blooms and the dead tree blooms. Once the old house catches fire, it will burn like crackling. If he doesn't let it out, he will really be depressed.
So he didn't play any tricks on his forehand, and went head-to-head with Arul. If Arul dared to charge forward, he would dare to pull back. If he couldn't pull, he would step back and pull. If he backed off and still couldn't pull, then he would take two more steps back.
Of course, if the opponent insists on hitting me with a backhand, then I have no choice but to use a backhand bounce.
Arul is very powerful, but speed is his weak point. After all, he is taller and bigger. He continuously attacked Luo Jiu's backhand in the first game, but Luo Jiu's backhand bounced away in the path of pure speed. As a result, Arul was stunned by the bounce, and then he realized it and started staring at Luo Jiu's forehand.
So the two began to fight forehands wildly. Luo Jiu couldn't fight, so they retreated frantically. After fighting, Arul dropped a close ball, and Luo Jiu died.
Judging from the scene, it seems that Arul is Huaping's, because he plays smarter, while Luo Jiu is a reckless man.
But Luo Jiu also has his own awesomeness. While he is being mobilized crazily by Arul, he can also fight back. Often a forced save from a near-desperate situation can be used by him to use God-tier Side Cut or a god-level sea fishing in his busy schedule. The super ball produced in this way is often beyond the endurance range of Arul, which can be the final word.
Therefore, the two of them played with sparks, and the score climbed all the way, and they were at odds with each other. It was far from the big-score crushing and suspected head-shaving game that the audience imagined before the game.
The first game was 11:8, Luo Jiu won.
The second game was 11:9, Luo Jiu won.
The third game was 11:7, Luo Jiu won.
The fourth game was 11:2, Luo Jiu won.
It can be seen from the score that Luo Jiu still has a sense of proportion. He just wants to show off his sweat and passion on the court, but he has not yet reached the point of committing suicide with passion. He will always launch his killer moves at critical moments to ensure that he can still win after enjoying himself.
This makes Arul very depressed. Every game starts with passion, struggles with confidence, and loses with unwillingness.
After losing one of three games, he realized that the naughty Luo Jiu was just teasing me.
So in the fourth round, Arul gave up resistance and started to fight randomly with his eyes closed. In the end, the blind cat encountered a dead mouse and hit two good shots, avoiding the fate of being bald.
Coming off the court, Luo Jiu was sweating profusely and his clothes were wet, but his expression was extremely comfortable, as if he had just finished some indescribable double sport in a stuffy dormitory on a hot day.
Oh, in fact, what he and Arul do can be regarded as a double sport in a sense.
Then came the official interview. As the loser, Arul spoke first. He spoke in a very organized manner and showed quite good qualities and IQ. He first acknowledged the gap between the two sides, then expressed that it was a great fight, and finally thanked Luo Jiu for being willing to fight him in this way, allowing him to taste the fun of the game.
These words have a bit of a squeeze. The so-called "such method" actually means that Luo Jiu uses him as a test subject and has an improper attitude in the game.
Luo Jiu didn't care. When it was his turn to be interviewed, he pretended not to understand the subtext of Arul and expressed his gratitude with a smile. Later, when the reporter asked him about his goal for this Olympic Games, he said without hesitation, "Of course it is to win the championship."
The reporter asked, "What do you think of the strength of Sun Tianlong and Wang Chao?"
Luo Jiu said, "It's just so-so. It's okay."
The reporter continued to argue, "How does it compare to you?"
"I'm afraid of hurting each other's friendship by saying this." The 27-year-old man made a scissor-hands look that he thought was trendy but was already outdated, and he pretended to sigh, "Brother Long is too old and has already passed. My junior brother is too young. I can only say that the future is promising. As for now, let me, who is still in my prime, do whatever it takes to win this championship."
When he said this, the reporters were stunned. He was used to making fire, but he didn't expect such a big fire to come out.
The director's camera panned to Wang Chao and Sun Tianlong at the right time, and found that both of them were laughing, and no one was angry. Obviously, they had long been accustomed to Luo Jiu's nonsense.
However, there is a saying that the emperor is not in a hurry and the eunuchs are in a hurry. After all, there are many people who are angry on the Internet. Within five minutes of the end of this interview, there were countless analysis posts on forums in various countries. Some people said that Wang Chao and Sun Tianlong were "laughing on the surface but scolding on the inside." Some people were analyzing whether their smiles were bitter smiles, ridicules, or sneers. Some people directly broke the news, "The grudges and grudges that have to be said in the Chinese table tennis team."
Of course, these are irrelevant things to the players.
In fact, Wang Chao is really happy at this time.
He liked the talkative senior brother Luo Jiu very much when he first met him, and he also really didn't want his senior brother to become the person he was like later when he was stressed, bitter and resentful.
Luo Jiu has been nourished by love these days, and to be honest, she is a little confused. On the one hand, Wang Chao persuaded He Jingping to give Luo Jiu freedom, but on the other hand, she actually feels a little unsure.
But after seeing today's scene and hearing Luo Jiu start talking nonsense again in front of the world's media, he knew that his favorite senior brother was back again.
The current Luo Jiu is indeed his best time.
If you meet the strongest opponent at the best time and have the most vivid battle, then no matter you win or lose, senior brother should have no regrets.
The game is still going on.
Next is another game in the top half, Sun Tianlong VS Pike.
This game was a complete defeat.
Even if Sun Tianlong lets go and starts enjoying the game, he will not make weird mistakes like Luo Jiu. He just no longer worries about injuries or whether to recuperate for the next game Olympic Games. He continues to fight and show the real terror of the world's number one player in front of the world.
Pike This person is a tragedy.
He was very prosperous when he debuted, but then he fell into a trough, losing Wang Chao, losing Luo Jiu, losing Sun Tianlong, losing Hook, and losing Lin Zijun.
It was okay to lose, but Wang Chao also taught him a lot about his signature backhand loop. As a result, he felt a strong sense of crisis and chose to practice hard in seclusion, hoping to unlock new skills.
His retreat is actually meaningful, his backhand is indeed sharper, and his technical connection is stronger. However, his progress cannot keep up with the progress of others.
During his days of seclusion, Wang Chao and Lin Zijun began to super evolve, Sun Tianlong began to recuperate, and Luo Jiu began to gain momentum, and then was watered by love and went berserk.
So after he was released from seclusion, he continued to be beaten, and then went into seclusion again.
Next was World Cup, Pike took the lead and was full of confidence. As a result, he performed well, but his teammates were not strong enough, and World Cup was in a team competition, so Pike failed again.
Then World Table Tennis Championships, of course he was defeated again.
Now the Olympics is the last chance this year. He can reach the quarter-finals. It can't be said that he has no achievements. But when he meets Sun Tianlong in the top eight, he is still in such a violent state that he has not seen in seven years. He is still desperate.
He really, really, really hasn't been to the semi-finals for a long, long time...
After 25 minutes, Pike was completely crushed by Sun Tianlong 4:0. This game was even worse than Zhang Benkuang yesterday. Zhang Benkuang had four 11:1 scores. He had two zeros today.
This cannot be blamed on Sun Tianlong, but on Pike, who has a strong self-esteem. Sun Tianlong originally wanted to give up the ball at 10:0, but Pike refused to take the move. Sun Tianlong wanted to wait for him to serve and pretend to attack and commit suicide, but Pike took the lead and chose to serve and commit suicide.
"I can die, but I can't die in your hands. I chose to commit suicide. This is the arrogance and self-esteem of my big England veteran noble."
Naturally, there will also be a post-match interview for this game.
In fact, Men's Singles has reached the point where it can be said that it has aroused the interest of all table tennis enthusiasts around the world. In the past year and a half, the development of table tennis has been too bizarre, both Wang Chao and Lin Zijun The rise of, Sun Tianlong's return as king, or Luo Jiu's technical counterattack and Hook's departure to Huaping to reshape the technical and tactical system are all legendary enough.
There is also Qin Huachang that cannot be ignored.
It can be said that the attention of table tennis around the world has actually increased by 30 percentage points. For a few countries such as Brazil, England, and Nigeria, it can even be said that the attention has increased several times.
This resulted in the number of spectators for this year's Olympic Games table tennis event directly breaking a record high.
If possible, International Table Tennis Federation even hopes that instead of conducting simple interviews after each game, it would be better to hold a press conference directly. First, ask questions for two hours, then invite experts to commentate on the game, hold a one-hour special lecture, and finally a fan debate time, allowing participating athletes to speak freely...
Well, I can only say that the idea is wonderful, but Olympic Committee will never agree to it.
Sun Tianlong can be regarded as the player with the most interviews in Huaping, and he is also the player who answers the most official questions. His answers are watertight, and he will never give reporters a chance to get offended.
The reporter asked him if he was sure of winning the championship. His answer was that I should be myself.
The reporter asked him who was more difficult to deal with, Luo Jiu or Wang Chao. His answer was that I just have to be myself.
The reporter asked him if he wanted to express his ambitions to the fans. His answer was that I hope to keep the championship in Huaping. The reporter seemed to have asked a lot of questions, but in the end he found that he had asked a lonely question.
So the interview ended, and Dragon Team quietly left the scene, hiding his merit and fame.
But in fact, he called Qin Huachang as soon as he left the venue.
It was 10:20 a. m. local time on Mexico City, which translated into more than 11 p. m. in China. He knew that Qin Huachang should have gone to bed, but he still made the call.
Because tomorrow he will fight Luo Jiu, and the day after tomorrow he will most likely fight Wang Chao. These two people are too difficult to deal with, and he is afraid that he will forget to make this call because he has no time to think about things other than the game.
"Teacher, I heard the news. Do you want to broadcast my finals live?" Sun Tianlong asked.
Qin Huachang was woken up from his sleep and said "Ah" vaguely. "That's right."
"You don't want to live broadcast anymore." Sun Tianlong said.
"Ah?" Qin Huachang was startled and suddenly woke up. "Why?"
"Because..." Sun Tianlong hesitated and said honestly, "I'm not sure of winning the championship."
Both sides of the phone fell silent. After about five seconds, Qin Huachang smiled softly on the other end, "A Long, I know you very well. Tell me the truth. How confident are you when you say you are not sure?"
Sun Tianlong also showed a warm smile on the other end of the phone.
The teacher really understands him, just as he really understands the teacher. If it were anyone else, he would never ask this question.
So he continued honestly, "If I play Luo Jiu, I'm 80% sure, but if my opponent in the final is Wang Chao, I'm afraid I'm only 70% sure, because Wang Chao showed something that surprised me today."
He paused and said seriously, "A 70% certainty is far from enough."
If these words were heard by outsiders, they would probably think that he was in Versailles and deliberately pretending to be pretentious in front of his teacher, but the master and apprentice on both sides of the phone knew that these were all from their hearts.
In the past many years of getting along, they had always had this conversation.
The certainty in Sun Tianlong's mind is different from other people's.
"Seventy percent is enough." Qin Huachang's rare tone softened. "I know you care about me, but you can definitely understand my feelings, right... If you win the championship and I don't see it with my own eyes, I will regret it for the rest of my life."
Sun Tianlong was silent for a moment and said, "But if I don't win the championship and you see it, I'm afraid you will..."
"Haha, I'm fine. Just don't worry." Qin Huachang suddenly laughed, "Are you looking down on your teacher and me? I am no longer the person I used to be. Now I have looked away. Whether you win or lose, isn't the meat rotten in the pot? After all, it is the gold medal of Huaping, what should I be worried about?"
Sun Tianlong was worried. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Teacher, I insist."
Qin Huachang remained silent.
Being silent means persistence, which is also a familiar communication method between master and disciple.
So after a few seconds, Sun Tianlong begged, "Just listen to me once."
Qin Huachang still remained silent.
Countless master-disciple conversations in the past have always been like this. When Qin Huachang always insists, Sun Tianlong will give in. This time, it will be no exception.
Sure enough, after a few seconds, Sun Tianlong sighed, "Okay."
He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath on the other end of the phone. "In that case, teacher, I will do my best to win."
(Brothers, although there are only 2 updates today, there are 12k, but they are not divided into three chapters, so you can confidently ask for votes? Give it to me, I want it, I want it)