This is the first season for Black Spade Q Club to join Table Tennis Super League. It has experienced ups and downs that other clubs have never experienced.
Many years later, Spade Q boss Fan Xiaofan looked back on the past and commented that the ups and downs of this year exceeded the sum of the subsequent years.
This is of course because Spade Q's fortunes this year were indeed unexpected, but the more important reason is that Spade Q's results in the following years were too stable.
Of course, it is stable among the Table Tennis Super League wealthy families. In those years, Spade Q relied on the twin stars of Wang Chao and Wu Li. In Super League, the gods were blocking the gods, and the Buddhas were blocking the Buddhas. Even when they met Jiangcheng University Team, who was also a super team, they still had no inferior combat power.
Precisely because the two teams Jiangcheng City were too strong, even the entire Table Tennis Super League ecology was forced to change. Other players in the national team no longer strictly followed the principles of Kings do not meet kings, but began to choose to join forces and reorganize a new Galaxy Battleship, trying to break the situation of the "Jiangcheng Two Heroes" competing against each other.
Ok, without further ado, let's get back to the present.
This year's Super League playoffs are the beginning of Black Spade Q Club's official take-off.
On February 4th, the playoffs officially started. In the upper bracket match, Jiangcheng University Team used a thunderous crushing force to directly defeat the traditional giant Shanghai Fire Phoenix Club. Among them, Luo Jiu defeated the opponent's Bai Feng, second single Hook beat the opponent's second single Zou Zhengyu 3:0, and then in the third doubles game, Hook cooperated with Duan Changying, again sealing a 3:0 zero.
Speaking of which, this is not the first time Jiangcheng University Team has beaten Magic City Fire Phoenix. These two teams have played against each other twice in the regular season, and Magic City Fire Phoenix was beaten badly without exception.
If the fans still had some mysterious confidence in the traditional giants Table Tennis Super League before, then after this game, the fans finally let go of their unrealistic fantasies. Even the local fans in Shanghai have to admit that things have really changed now, from little Even though Jiangcheng City's team, sponsored by the university, has average financial resources and average influence, it has indeed become Table Tennis Super League's new Great Demon King. As long as this team maintains its lineup, it will grow into a new giant within the next three years at most.
Fans of the Magic City Fire Phoenix team looked back with emotion and suddenly realized that the team they supported was just a small team a few years ago. It only started to take off after Bai Feng and Zou Zhengyu joined at the same time. It took three years to achieve glory.
Now that the team's ace player is no longer powerful, the team's glory has naturally faded. Magic City Fire Phoenix once stepped on the shoulders of other teams to become a giant, and now others will step on their own shoulders to reach the top.
The professional league itself is like this. Generations of players get older, their status fluctuates, generations of Jiang Shan change, and the rotation of strength and weakness is all natural. You can regret it, but there is nothing unacceptable.
Then, it's Spade Q's turn to face Imperial Capital Panlong Club.
Even though many people have seen a clear signal of the rise of new forces from the fiasco of Magic City Fire Phoenix, in the face of this game, everyone is still more optimistic about Imperial Capital Panlong. The reason is that they believe that Spade Q is seriously biased, and although Imperial Capital Panlong has lost its general Xiao Fei, it still has a very deep bench.
Table Tennis Super League's competition system actually leads to a problem, that is, the strength of a team basically depends on the first and second singles in the team. As for the third single, the influence is much smaller. After all, theoretically, as long as the first single and the second single are strong enough, two people are enough to score three points.
Each team's single is very strong. Except for the strongest, most of the other teams' singles are mutually winning or losing. Therefore, who is stronger among the two singles basically determines the outcome of the entire game.
Fans think Spade Q is biased. To put it more simply, the audience thinks Wu Li is not reliable yet.
Wu Li has won six of the past eight games, which seems good, but if you look closely, the winners are basically Table Tennis Super League's mid-level players. In the two losses, one was against a First Team player, and the other was against a sparring player in the national team who imitated Luo Jiu's play style.
This shows that Wu Li's current strength is actually at the mid-level level of Table Tennis Super League, and his ability to adapt to new playing styles that he has never been exposed to is weaker than ordinary players - this is probably a weakness of Hundred Refinements's talent. In addition to having super adaptability, he has also lost a lot of his ability to adapt to changes.
But in the end, Spade Q defeated Imperial Capital Panlong 3:1 and entered the finals proudly.
In this game, Wang Chao still chose to play in the second singles. He first won one point in singles, and then cooperated with Wu Li to win one point in doubles. The fourth game was all about luck. Wu Li faced the third singles player of team Imperial Capital Panlong, a former national team veteran.
This ball became the key point of the entire game.
Wu Li had just lost to a First Team player half a month ago, so everyone was not optimistic about him in this battle, but in the end, Wu Li defeated the opponent with a huge advantage of 3:0.
If it were 3:1 or 3:2, everyone would still understand. After all, table tennis is round and anything can happen. It is common for the weak to defeat the strong. But a pure zero-block victory cannot be explained by luck and strategy. This is a real gap in hard power.
It was also this game that made everyone realize that Wu Li had made another huge improvement. His current strength has truly reached the upper middle position among First Team players.
So Hundred Refinements's talent was brought out and hyped again. After all, after Wang Chao returned to Table Tennis Super League, Wu Li's progress was really too fast. It only took him one month to jump directly from the bottom level of Table Tennis Super League to the top level of First Team.
If you don't take into account his strict requirements for training intensity, just looking at his speed of progress is simply even more exaggerated than Wang Chao.
Don't forget that he also possesses strange powers, and is even suspected of possessing an "Iron Man". He is an out-and-out invincible monster.
What a coveted talent.
Since all the open tournaments have ended at this time and the year-end finals have not yet started, the Chinese Table Tennis Super League playoffs have attracted a lot of international attention, not to mention the joint commentary of Qin Huachang and Sun Tianlong, so basically all foreign fans, players and coaches have watched the entire game live broadcast.
Then non-Chinese associations became jealous, and many coaches called Cai Guodong again. They pretended to have forgotten about the scolding on the phone a while ago, and asked Cai Guodong with a smile, "How to test Hundred Refinements's talent?"
Cai Guodong: "???"
"I can't come."
(I really don't know...)
So in the end, most of these calls that started with warm and friendly endings ended with swearing, because non-Chinese associations's coaches didn't believe that Cai Guodong didn't know. They believed that Huaping was concealing the testing method and refused to make it public, which was unethical.
So Rohlskov finally shouted out the words that he had wanted to say for a long time but had not been able to say before for some reason, "You guys are so full, can't you leave some soup for us?"
In this way, the two teams of Jiangcheng City accomplished a feat that has never been accomplished by any team in the history of Table Tennis Super League. They met in the finals.
This was the most hysterical carnival of Jiangcheng City local fans. In those days, many big screens in Jiangcheng City were purchased by the fans through spontaneous fundraising to broadcast table tennis-related information, and the sports channel of the city station even devoted a large amount of time to it. According to reports related to table tennis, the two club teams from top to bottom, from the boss to the coach to the players, to the staff below and even Cook and the cleaners, were interviewed wildly by various media. It can be said that the people of Jiangcheng have maximized their self-pleasure and geographical pride at the same time.
In this regard, even the Imperial Capital and the Magic Capital, the two largest cities in China, could only watch and had nothing to say.
It is said that the relevant leaders of the Imperial Capital Sports Department made a special call to Imperial Capital New City Team, scolded the head coach, and finally asked, "When will you become a strong team?"
The head coach of Imperial Capital New City at this time is none other than Wang Lu's brother. Wang Shou resigned from Poseidon Club last year. Wang Shou's application to join the coaching staff of Huaping has been approved. He needs to wait until the spring of next year to officially join Huaping. He is now the temporary head coach, but he received a lot of criticism before leaving. It can be regarded as an unnecessary disaster.
Faced with the leader's clear question, he could only reply cautiously, "Leader, wait until we return to Table Tennis Super League before we talk about this, okay?"
The leader was stunned for a moment, then realized that the team under his jurisdiction had been demoted at the end of last year. For a moment, he was completely disenchanted and lost all interest in chatting. He sighed and hung up the phone.
But actually Wang Shou still has something to say...
Don't look at Imperial Capital New City being relegated, but now there are Lin Zijun and Liang Kunpeng in the team. As long as they can break into Table Tennis Super League, they will be a strong team next year. Even if they replicate the grand performance of the Jiangcheng duo this year, it may not be impossible.
"Although we were relegated, we are really capable!"
In comparison, the mentality of the leaders of the relevant sports departments in Magic City is much better, because Magic City Oriental Pearl Club itself is a weak team at the bottom, fighting for relegation every year, so this leader pays attention to the promotion and relegation every year, which also leads to him clearly knowing Last year, Imperial Capital New City was relegated. This year, although the performance of the Oriental Pearl Club is not good, it is currently ranked third from the bottom. There is no need to fight for promotion and relegation. You can still be a salted fish happily in Table Tennis Super League.
"Why should I care about Jiangcheng City's team? I only need to guarantee that my team in the Demon City will perform better than his team in the Imperial City. Isn't that enough?"
"Last year's annual championship was our Magic City Fire Phoenix, and the annual mvp player was our single Bai Feng. As for this year, no one made it to the finals. Well, although the vertical comparison is rather miserable, in horizontal comparison, the advantages are still obvious."
"Oh, I almost forgot, their general Xiao Fei also retired. According to the theory of relativity, the weakening of our competitors is equivalent to the strengthening of our side. This is really a happy event."
So you see, even if you are a leader, you need to learn self-hypnosis. After all, the most important thing in life is to be happy.
On February 7, the Table Tennis Super League playoff finals started. Both teams conducted very brain-burning research and discussions on the formation, and the core key point of the discussion was the order of the fourth and fifth games.
Will Wu Li be in the fourth or fifth game?
This order almost determines the final outcome of the game.
At this time in Jiangcheng University Team, both Luo Jiu and Hook agreed that they were not the opponent of Wang Chao. Therefore, they felt that Wang Chao must get two points. Then if Spade Q wanted to win, their third point could only be pinned on the third order Wu Li.
If Wu Li plays against Luo Jiu and Hook, there is no chance at all for the time being, but if it plays against Wang Bo or Duan Changying, there is really a good chance. After all, he just defeated a First Team player in the match against Imperial Capital Panlong Club a few days ago.
After discussing the issues in the fourth and fifth games, the meeting did not end. Luo Jiu and Hook had a huge dispute over the single and second orders.
Simply put, they both want to play second singles because neither of them wants to meet Wang Chao.
In fact, Wang Chao played in the second order in most of the past games, but today, after discussion, Jiangcheng University Team agreed that Wang Chao should play in the first order.
Why?
Because there are two singles in one single, with Wang Chao's current strength, no matter who he meets, he is bound to win. Playing in one single can guarantee two points, and if he plays in second single, he needs to play a doubles match with Wu Li. There may be problems in this doubles.
Don't forget, Table Tennis Super League's two recognized strongest doubles partners are Luo Jiu and Wang Bo of Jiangcheng University Team, or Hook and Duan Changying.
Although Spade Q's doubles team is also very strong, everyone has never actually played against each other. When the two strong players meet, it is uncertain who will have the last laugh. It stands to reason that a person as sophisticated as Wang Chao cannot deliberately make such a dangerous move when he can obviously score two points.
So Hook and Luo Jiu argued for a long time.
Hook's reasoning is. "I'm an international friend. If I hadn't joined, would Jiangcheng University Team have achieved the results it has now? You've been in this team for seven years alone and haven't made a name for yourself. Shouldn't you give me the second single position out of gratitude to me?"
Luo Jiu's reasoning is. "You are kidding me, who doesn't know that you just want to win the title of MVP player of the year? In the last game, you insisted on asking me to play alone, but ended up playing one game, and it was not pleasant to win at all. You played in the second game, but played two crushing games, and finally snatched the MVP of the game. Even if everyone rotates fairly, it is my turn to choose first this time, right?"
Hook: "Why don't you tell me how much I have paid? Do you know how I got here in the past six months? I practiced with you for two months, and now I have become a defeated opponent of yours. Is it easy for me?"
Luo Jiu: "Why don't you say how much you got? How stable you are now and how good your on-the-spot condition is. Don't you have the numbers in mind?"
Hook roared, "But I can't beat you, and I will never win the championship again."
Luo Jiu also roared, "Do you think I can win the championship? Don't you know that the championship is monopolized by Wang Chao?"
The two were panting, like a bullfight, and then Hook sighed quietly, "Are you so afraid of losing to Wang Chao?"
Luo Jiu sneered, "Aren't you afraid?"
Hook advised again, "Even if you place an order, you may not be able to meet him twice. Maybe you will only lose to him once?"
Luo Jiu sneered again, "But, if you place the second order, you won't be able to touch him at all."
Jiangcheng University's pre-war seminar went on for a long time. The two fierce generals refused to compromise. Luo Jiu certainly showed his innate chatterbox nature. Hook However,, a foreigner, also showed his strong language learning ability. He just spoke Mandarin with a local accent in Jiangcheng, and suppressed Luo Jiu's random thoughts with a louder voice, as if the devil's voice was filling his ears.
In short, neither of these two people want to touch Wang Chao, and their attitudes are extremely determined.
This made the head coach laugh and cry, but also couldn't help but feel slightly shocked in his heart.
Before Olympic Games, Wang Chao actually did not have such a terrifying power to intimidate others, but Olympic Games played too hard in the last two games. First, Sun Tianlong proved that he could keep Luo Jiu clean, and then Wang Chao proved that he could almost zero-block Sun Tianlong. The top three players in China Table Tennis should have been equally matched in the eyes of fans around the world, but after Olympic Games finished playing, everyone suddenly discovered that each of these three people is at a different level, and each level can beat the next level.
This is really perverted. We are all still in elementary school, but you have a junior high school student, a high school student, and a college student.
Anyone who knows a little bit about table tennis knows how much Grand Slam's honor adds to a player's confidence. All Grand Slam winners and Great Demon King winners in history have established unparalleled confidence by winning the Olympic Games championship. Since then, they have entered the realm of invincibility and completely suppressed opponents who could once compete with them.
Therefore, the current Wang Chao is truly a hero in the world who dares not challenge him. When he sees him, he has no choice but to avoid him, otherwise he will be psychologically disturbed in minutes.
(That's the first update today. Let's just relax during the final stage, okay? Of course, tickets are still required, please!)
Thanks to "Bing Ming Yu Run Natural Color" for the tip.