This is not only a matter of curiosity, but also related to the formation of many professional players, because they can try to find ways to avoid Wang Chao and Great Demon King within the scope of the rules. After all, in the current era where "the heroes of the world dare not challenge them", it is really boring to meet the new Great Demon King who is in full swing.
How can I describe this feeling of being beaten again and again, unable to give up, and not even qualified to fight hard? The ancients said, "It is easy to die generously, but difficult to die calmly." Fighting Wang Chao is a typical example of calmly dying. You really can't be generous.
At this time, many people were secretly happy, such as Bayer, Pike and Hook. They knew in their hearts that National Games was held every four years and held a lot of value in the eyes of Chinese players. It can be compared with Olympic Games, which means that whether Wang Chao or Luo Jiu will definitely choose National Games, so will they be absent from the year-end finals?
Without the two lawn mowers, do we have a chance?
For a moment, there was a slightly tense atmosphere in Europe and America. Bayer kept a close eye on Hook, thinking, although I am not as strong as you and not as fast as you, my skills are worse than Qian and I have more experience than you. If we really fight, there is no telling who is worse than who. I am 35 years old. If I can win a heavyweight championship in the year-end finals, I can probably retire with peace of mind.
Hook is naturally unconvinced. He feels that I have been training at Table Tennis Super League for half a year and have gone through hundreds of battles. I have beaten all the top players in the Chinese table tennis world who are not well-known but are scary. But after so many games, besides losing to Luo Jiu and Wang Chao, who else have I lost to? Do you really look at me in an old light? Let me tell you, experience depends on the quality of the competition, not on age. With my current strength, as long as the Chinese don't come, I'm guaranteed to win the championship.
Pike also has ambitions, but he is more modest. He just thinks that if Wang Chao Luo Jiu is absent, then can he at least make it all the way to the semi-finals? If I'm lucky, let Bayer and Hook fight like dogs, I might even make it to the finals. And if I get to the finals, maybe my opponent has already spent too much energy in the semifinals and turned into a paper tiger?
In short, at this moment, the unrealistic fantasy romanticism unique to England people permeated Pike's body.
Swedish player k. Michel is more pragmatic. He doesn't have so many messy thoughts. He just went to Old Wa's house to start emergency training before the game behind closed doors. Obviously, he also aims to win the championship.
But soon the first news came from China: Chinese players Fan Xiaodong and Lu Feiyang chose to participate in the year-end finals, giving up National Games.
This is a decision made by the teachers behind the two young players after careful consideration.
Sun Tianlong believes that Fan Xiaodong, as the future number one seed recognized by China Table Tennis Team, is going to Grand Slam. Therefore, even if National Games can get some results by participating now, and it makes no sense, because at this stage he absolutely cannot break through the blockade of Wang Chao and Luo Jiu. In this case, it would be good to try to play the copy of "Year-End Finals Champion" first. What if he can clear the level directly?
Qiu Yinong believes that Lu Feiyang's temporary combat effectiveness is far from enough, and National Games will be cannon fodder. It is better to gain some world ranking points in the finals last year and quickly move up the rankings, so as to get more competition opportunities when the cake is divided next year.
In short, when this news came, there was a little excitement in Europe and the United States, and many people felt threatened.
If Huaping does not take action, the champion of the year-end finals can only be produced among the four major associations of Germany, England, Sweden and Brazil. But now that Fan Xiaodong is coming to disrupt the situation, there is another strong contender for the championship.
Bayer is even a little desperate, because he is the only one who was killed twice in a row by Fan Xiaodong within a month. If he is unlucky in the finals draw, let alone the championship, he may fall in any round.
But in general, non-Chinese associations's mood is basically stable. After all, the two lawn mowers Wang Chao and Luo Jiu have not moved yet.
They also firmly believe that these two people will not come. After all, the finals happen every year, but National Games only happens once every four years.
Then, as expected, news came that Luo Jiu had temporarily joined the Jiangsu Provincial Table Tennis Team during the National Games period. He had already appeared in Yunnan Province Spring City, where National Games was held, and was conducting intensive closed training with his teammates who formed the temporary team.
A little explanation is needed here. The National Games table tennis project is a comprehensive sports meeting organized by the state and is non-commercial. Therefore, it will not be grouped according to club-type commercial events such as the Table Tennis Super League Professional League. Instead, it will be grouped strictly according to provinces. The original It is said that players should try to choose their place of origin, but due to various specific circumstances, in fact, the top players can choose freely among various provinces. The main purpose is to avoid the gathering of experts and the huge disparity in strength, so that there is no suspense, and the second is to make the competition more intense and more enjoyable to watch.
It stands to reason that both Luo Jiu and Wang Chao should join Hubei Provincial Team, but because Sun Tianlong has retired, the combat power of these two people is completely unchecked, so the leaders of each province have expressed their views very clearly, and they must be separated.
So Luo Jiu chose to leave Hubei Provincial Team. As for where to go, it depends on the sincerity of each province.
In the end, Su Province, one of the richest provinces in China, successfully won Luo Jiu through their heavy "sincerity".
Of course, because Northern Hubei Province's economic situation can only be considered average and the "sincerity" on hand is limited, Su Province, which won Luo Jiu, will also exchange a First Team player for Northern Hubei Province as compensation.
At the same time, under the recommendation of Wang Chao, Hubei Provincial Team made an exception and chose Wu Li, who had never entered the national team or played in any international competition, as his main player, and the team lineup was thus formed.
At this point, all fans at home and abroad feel that it is almost done, and the overall situation has been decided. After all, Wang Chao, the strongest player in the world, was so deeply involved in National Games's team formation, and because of him, Luo Jiu was forced to leave his hometown. At this point, Wang Chao wouldn't suddenly drop his picks and choose the year-end finals, right?
In fact, after Luo Jiu announced its withdrawal from the year-end finals, International Table Tennis Federation had already substituted Morad into the 16-man roster. Now, they are considering who to replace the vacancy caused by Wang Chao's withdrawal, and there has been a fierce dispute over this quota. The reason for the dispute is that they all want to choose players from their own countries.
To be specific, a certain Kimchi Country official wanted to choose Li Zhengzhi, but Sakura Country official thought Utada Seiya was better, and another Swedish official thought m. Michel is really good, but Portugal officials think there must be a quota in our country. I think Portugal's first brother, Fretas, is good.
Everyone was quarreling so much that they could never tell the winner. The root cause was that these people were all incompatible, each had his or her own strengths, and even fed into each other. The cycle went on and on, and there was really no way to choose one person who had an absolute advantage.
It can be seen that where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. This sentence does not deceive me. Even International Table Tennis Federation, which has been working together to fight against Huaping for decades, is not monolithic internally.
But on February 9th, shocking news came: Wang Chao announced its participation in the year-end finals.
Everyone, stop fighting, the quota is gone, the cooked duck has really flown away.
This was the day before the year-end finals officially started. The entire table tennis world was shocked by Wang Chao's decision. They had a lot to ask, but before they could ask, Wang Chao answered directly, "There is no conflict between the year-end finals and National Games. Why should I choose? I want them all."
Fans all over the world are confused. They don't know what happened. This is because, as fans, they rarely analyze the details of the game. Most people in the industry will give them a conclusion after analyzing it, and they will believe it.
Therefore, in fact, the argument that "you can only choose one of these two competitions" was indeed analyzed by the table tennis associations of each country.
When the fans took a closer look for themselves, they discovered that there was indeed something wrong.
The year-end finals started on the 10th, and National Games table tennis started on the afternoon of the 15th. The first event to start was Women's Doubles. In fact, National Games Men's Singles would not start until the afternoon of the 16th, but the year-end finals ended on the afternoon of the 15th.
In other words, theoretically speaking, Wang Chao can go to Brazil to participate in the year-end finals on the 10th, finish the game on the afternoon of the 15th and fly back overnight, just in time for the first round of the National Games Men's Singles project the next day.
This...
This...
This...
"Can your body handle it?"
"Don't you need to adjust your condition?"
"Can you guarantee stable performance?"
"Aren't you afraid that by trying to do both, you end up not fighting both, okay?"
"You don't have to be jet-lagged?"
After coming back to their senses, the table tennis associations of various countries began to ask questions frantically.
It's not that their analysis of the problem was faulty, but that no one has ever done this in history. Even the most arrogant and domineering player in history, Grand Slam, had to enter the competition venue at least three days in advance to start pre-match preparations, because this preparation is actually very complicated. You need to analyze each of your threatening opponents, think about their playing styles and techniques, and make targeted strategies. Basically, every time you fight someone, the strategy in your mind is a thick book.
This thing, in a sense, is even like doing a Mathematical Olympiad problem, it is very brain-burning.
But the attitude Wang Chao is showing now is clear: "I won't analyze you anymore", "I will fight you based on instinct", "I will bully you, no matter how you plot against me, I can adapt to circumstances and destroy you".
This is too outrageous.
Later, a mysterious figure on the Internet sent out a soul-stirring question on Silver Ball Dance Forum: "Did you give up winning the National Games Men's Doubles project championship just to catch up with the announcement of the year-end finals?"
Yes, the original head coach Jiang Tiansheng of Hubei Provincial Team hoped that Wang Chao could serve as both Men's Singles and Men's Doubles and mixed doubles. For this reason, he spent a lot of money to get Tang Yuanyuan from the Shandong Province representative team. He wanted to form an invincible mixed doubles combination with Wang Chao, and successfully achieved his wish.
He did not expect that something would go wrong with Men's Doubles, because when he agreed to Wang Chao's suggestion and made Wu Li the main player, he had already defaulted that Wang Chao and Wu Li would form a partnership with Men's Doubles.
He never expected that Wang Chao would resolutely not participate in Men's Doubles.
At first he didn't understand, but now he understands.
So, yes, this mysterious man on the Internet is the vest of coach Jiang Tiansheng. At this moment, Jiang Tiansheng is angry because he feels that Wang Chao is too selfish.
Thinking back to a year ago, his son Jiang Long had conflicts with Wang Chao. It was precisely because of this that Wang Chao left Jiangcheng City Team for Black Spade Q Club, who has since entered the professional table tennis world, went outside the training institutions of the national system and missed Jiang Tiansheng. Regarding this, Jiang Tiansheng has always felt regretful and scolded his son countless times.
This time he was able to recall Wang Chao as a provincial team and reach a cooperation. He actually wanted to make up for his regrets. At the same time, he also wanted to seriously say sorry to Wang Chao on behalf of his son. He came with good intentions, but he did not expect that Wang Chao would eventually give up the National Games Men's Doubles championship for his own selfish interests and choose to win the gold medal in the year-end finals himself.
Where does this place the honor of the provincial team?
Where is the partner Wu Li?
Jiang Tiansheng is an old-school person, and his patriotic approach has a paranoid side. He emphasizes selfless dedication, so he doesn't understand.
But Wang Chao only said one sentence and convinced him, "You are overthinking. I can't win the National Games Men's Doubles championship."
Everyone was stunned when they first saw this sentence. Their first subconscious reaction was: Didn't you and Wu Li defeat Table Tennis Super League, the Hook Duan Changying combination that is recognized as the strongest? Then if you are not the first Men's Doubles, who is the first Men's Doubles?
Then everyone suddenly reacted.
Oh, no.
Who said that the first group Table Tennis Super League Men's Doubles is the first group Men's Doubles in China?
If nothing else, just give a simple example. Can Hook plus Duan Changying beat Hook plus Luo Jiu?
You can't beat it for sure.
The reason why Jiangcheng University Team lined up like this throughout the league stage is because Hook and Luo Jiu must be one single and two singles. They cannot form a team to play doubles, that's all.
And now, don't forget that Luo Jiu is still training with the Jiangsu Provincial Team.
Coincidentally, in addition to Luo Jiu, Suzhou Province also found a player who has been in the limelight recently: Qi Hao.
Qi Hao, this neural knife, has become a real master after completing the major technical changes that have been very difficult for his muscles and bones. He once shined in the surface through competition three months ago, and now, he has gone through another month of With Table Tennis Super League training, his condition has become more and more stable, and he can be considered as the top player of First Team. To be honest, he is really just a little bit ahead of Fan Xiaodong from the position of the fifth main player.
Huaping was the first to understand the essence of doubles. After understanding the gameplay, top athletes can actually develop a tacit understanding very quickly. In this case, it must be that the stronger the players themselves, the higher the upper limit of the final combination.
Therefore, Luo Jiu plus Qi Hao has at least a 70% winning rate against Wang Chao plus Wu Li.
An old-school person like Jiang Tiansheng has the disadvantage of being stubborn, but the advantage is that he has great tolerance and patience for outstanding students. This is very similar to many teachers of the older generation.
Wang Chao is naturally considered the best player, so after seeing his explanation, Jiang Tiansheng rarely accepted it directly and commented again. "I am being narrow-minded. I wish you can continue to show off in the international arena."
For Jiang Tiansheng, it is not easy to say this, even on the Internet.
Therefore, even if Wang Chao doesn't know who the mysterious person on the Internet is from the beginning to the end, from Jiang Tiansheng's own perspective, he and Wang Chao have forgotten their grudges.
Another day later, on February 10, Wang Chao officially began his first career trip to the year-end finals.
The finals adopts an invitational tournament system, so there is only the main draw and no qualifying tournament. However, in order to ensure that the only 16 players can play enough exciting games, the organizers still set up four seed players, namely Wang Chao, Hook, Lin Zijun and Bayer.
Wang Chao is No. 1, Hook is No. 16, Lin Zijun is No. 9, and Bayer is No. 8. The four seeds are listed at the top and bottom of the upper and lower halves respectively. This is to ensure that they can meet each other at the latest, rather than forming a strong confrontation early, and even causing the final to be staged in advance.
But the problem is, there are spoilers on this list...
Players with low world rankings really don't mean they are low in strength.
For example, the famous spoiler Fan Xiaodong, yes, he is here again. The matchup table after the draw shows that he met his old rival Bayer in the first round.
Bayer: "Scheie!/Verdammt!/Verdammt scheie!"
Bayer: "Du bist so behindert."
Bayer: "Drecker Sau!"
Bayer is a famous European gentleman. He has been personable for many years. He has received professional training in restraining his emotions. He generally does not get angry unless he can't help it...
Everyone will subconsciously use their native language when they are extremely angry. I hope everyone can understand.
In short, the year-end finals are very unfriendly to all non-Chinese associations players, because in the first round Wang Chao killed Zhu Shixian, and Lu Feiyang killed Qiu Shang, and Fan Xiaodong killed Bayer. It was originally supposed to be a carnival for non-Chinese associations to share all the points, but in the end it turned into a massacre of three Chinese players.
Fortunately, in the second round, Pike showed his power and crushed Lu Feiyang, who wanted to continue jumping around, 4:0.
Unfortunately, two more comrades died heroically, Sissifield and Arul fell under the butcher's knife of Fan Xiaodong and Wang Chao.
So far, the semi-finals have been played. The top half is Wang Chao vs Fan Xiaodong, and the bottom half is Lin Zijun VS Hook.
Fan Xiaodong is eager to try and challenge the new winner Grand Slam. As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers. He came here with great ambition, but in the end he was defeated by Wang Chao beat 4:0, and the whole process was miserable. The harder he struggled, the more ferociously Wang Chao beat him, crushing him to death without even giving him a chance to breathe.
It must be mentioned that Fan Xiaodong only scored one point in the third game, and Fan Xiaodong only scored two points in the fourth game.
Wang Chao didn't give up the ball, he was really rushing to shave his head, but Fan Xiaodong was also bloody. Even though he was beaten to death, he still gritted his teeth and held on, and did not collapse in the end.
It's not that he has no fighting spirit, he just really can't beat him.
Naturally, Wang Chao didn't hit him so hard out of his heart. He was privately entrusted by Sun Tianlong.
"It doesn't matter if you beat him a little harder. Xiao Dong is a kid who can withstand pressure and has a good attitude. Even if you beat him to pieces, I can comfort him back." Sun Tianlong's original words.
Wang Chao couldn't help but sigh, "Brother Long, you are so cruel...Old Qin did you do this to you back then?"
"I was worse than him back then, but it wasn't the teacher who did it, it was me who really couldn't beat Wang Wendong." Sun Tianlong actually made a joke, "I originally wanted to suppress you, but I failed to suppress you, but I thought that throughout my career, I have to find someone to severely suppress you. It just so happened that Xiao Dong was left to me by the teacher, so I won't be polite."
For some reason, when Wang Chao looked at Brother Long's bright and sunny smiling face, he always felt that a hero was gradually slipping down the path of evil, and he couldn't hold him back.
"Is this the fate of the Huaping coach?" Wang Chao couldn't help but think.