The one left behind is naturally Luo Jiu.
There are five main players in the national table tennis team. Four of Table Tennis World Cup participated this time. In the end, three of them entered the semi-finals. The only one who did not make it was Luo Jiu.
"What happened to Dragon Team?" Wang Chao couldn't help but ask the question in his heart.
He Jingping smiled bitterly, "What else can I do? I'm older."
Dragon Team's honors and injuries go hand in hand. He was a late bloomer. He didn't win his first World Champion until he was 24 years old. Then he entered the invincible state step by step. Before he knew it, seven years had passed.
During these seven years, he reached the finals of every major competition he participated in and eventually won the championship.
No exceptions.
There is only one possibility for others to win the championship: Dragon Team did not sign up.
Fortunately, Dragon Team is getting older, has more and more injuries, and has given up many games, especially ITTF World Tour, who has the largest number and the lowest gold content. This has given many opportunities to others.
But few people have noticed that during these seven long years, more than half of the opponents Dragon Team faced when reaching the finals were foreigners.
So, if Dragon Team does not participate, will other Chinese players definitely be able to reach the finals?
This question is actually difficult to answer.
Whether it is the slightly older Lin Li, Luo Jiu, or the recently rising Bai Feng, they have all more or less failed when facing foreign players.
It's just that even if they lose, Dragon Team will take care of everything from behind to ensure that the championship will not fall into the hands of other countries.
Therefore, all their mistakes over the years have been easily forgiven by the audience.
The audience is like this, they only look at the result. If the champion is not left behind, then everything is worthy of forgiveness.
Even if you are no longer young, if all you lose is a game that does not affect the overall situation, the audience will say, "Be tolerant and give him some more time."
Even if you are still very young, as long as you dare to lose a game that affects the overall situation, the audience will scold you until you die.
Regardless of the Chinese table tennis world in the past life or the Chinese table tennis world in this life, it is actually the same. Only winning the championship is the biggest right.
The biggest difference between World Table Tennis Championships in October last year and World Cup in July this year is actually that something went wrong with Dragon Team.
When he had a problem, all the problems were exposed.
Because when he cannot hold on, other team members will not be able to step forward and take over the banner, but will be affected by his failure.
Last year, World Table Tennis Championships and Xiao Fei, another main player of the national table tennis team who competed with him, lost to European players in the quarter-finals and failed to meet Dragon Team in the finals.
In this year's World Cup, when Dragon Team lost power, Bai Feng and Lin Li also lost consecutively to Hans. Bayer.
"Sun Tianlong It's so difficult, even us coaches feel sad watching it."
He Jingping sighed, "He has been forced to stop playing on the eve of a game due to recurrence of injuries more than once... But no one in the entire coaching staff has spoken to persuade him to give up."
He waited for Wang Chao to ask "why", but Wang Chao did not ask.
Because Wang Chao knows the reason.
The glory of Chinese table tennis for decades has become a crown that is too heavy on the head of the entire Chinese table tennis world. China Table Tennis members cannot lose, are not allowed to lose, will not lose, and cannot afford to lose.
As long as you don't win the championship, it's wrong.
The runner-up needs to be reviewed.
When our advantage is small, when the opponent is coming menacingly, when everyone is expecting you to win, and when everyone takes it for granted that "of course we will win," the pressure is so great that outsiders can hardly imagine it.
Everyone knows how much damage a closed game can do to an athlete's body, but if Dragon Team does not play, can it really be guaranteed that the gold medal will not be taken away by others?
The national table tennis coaching staff does not dare to gamble.
Under normal circumstances, the so-called "No. 1 in the world" for Chinese table tennis should be accurately defined as "we have a winning rate of more than 60% when facing any foreign players."
But this doesn't meet the audience's expectations.
When you have been undefeated for more than ten or twenty years, the audience hopes that you can achieve a 100% winning rate.
But table tennis is almost the smallest and lightest ball among all ball sports in the world.
The smaller and lighter it is, the faster it is, and the lower the stability, the stronger the chance, and the greater the state fluctuations.
Over the years, in the world table tennis world, countless top ten players have been severely beaten by unknown players who are not ranked among the top 200 in competitions.
How difficult it is to achieve a 100% winning rate!
"Sun Tianlong is a very thoughtful person. He knows the difficulties of the coaching staff and our concerns, so he doesn't want us to speak. He takes the initiative to request closure every time."
He Jingping said softly, "Only this time, he thinks there should be no surprises. After all, Bayer is old and has failed to win any major competitions for three years. What's more, the entire The entire coaching staff believes that both Bai Feng and Lin Li can beat Bayer, so he wants to play less closed games and hurt his body less."
Wang Chao finally understood after hearing this.
No wonder he felt something was wrong with Dragon Team's movements when he was watching the game yesterday.
Others may not be able to see it, but he can see that some balls can actually be saved, but Dragon Team gave up.
Some balls can explode with force, but Dragon Team also gave up.
These details are very subtle, and it is also the first time for Wang Chao to really watch Sun Tianlong play a game.
But he still feels that if Sun Tianlong is really the best in the world, then his handling of these balls must be flawed.
Now he knows the truth.
It turns out...Sun Tianlong's injury should have recurred yesterday.
In a sense, Dragon Team's game in the semi-finals was a well-intentioned one, hoping to use his defeat to send his fellow juniors to the top and take over the banner in his hands.
It's a pity... Sun Tianlong was disappointed after all.
"In recent years, the world table tennis world has been turbulent, especially for men. As the diameter of the standard table tennis ball has been adjusted to 40mm, the small ball era has gradually become outdated, and loop balls have become popular. This is just what European players want. A large number of rookies have emerged, and many veterans have also regained their second youth."
"Kimchi Country's team has a tough style of play and has always emphasized physical strength. They have also benefited from the change to a bigger ball."
"As for Sakura Country, the whole country has attached great importance to table tennis in recent years. After several years of reform, women's table tennis has firmly ranked second in the world. There are also several good prospects in men's table tennis. The results in the Asian Youth Championship are even better than ours."
He Jingping is a little worried. "On the contrary, Huaping is a bit inactive. Even the coaching staff has begun to have ideological differences. Some coaches believe that more young players should be allowed to train in the world competition and gain experience in tournaments, while other coaches believe that we should continue to maintain the original policy unchanged. As for the current predicament, it is just an occasional fluctuation in the overall stability, and it will be over in a year or two at most."
Wang Chao nodded to express understanding.
Huaping's so-called original policy, to put it bluntly, only has one sentence. "If rising stars want to rise to the top, they should seize the class themselves and don't wait for the old players to make way."
This is different from most other countries.
In other countries, the main players are not strong enough, so they will give young players many opportunities to compete. However, Huaping's main players are too strong. If the young players want to get a chance to compete, they must first defeat their seniors in internal competition.
Back then, Sun Tianlong was also a young genius. He joined First Team when he was underage, but was suppressed by his seniors for seven years. From the age of seventeen to twenty-four, he finally broke through his inner demons and won the first World Champion by stepping on the shoulders of his seniors.
Later Xiao Fei, Lin Li, and Luo Jiu were all like this.
Only Bai Feng is a small exception. He successfully entered First Team because of the national table tennis's consistent support policy for straight skaters. However, after entering the first team, he and his head coach created the Penhold Backhand Loop technology, which broke out quickly and rose like lightning, which also proved that he was worthy of this support.
The harder you press, the more violent the rebound will be. This is almost the consensus of the entire national team coaching staff. Without seven years of intense pressure, how could Sun Tianlong have been tirelessly polishing his skills and finally become the perfect hexagonal warrior he is now?
Without years of high pressure, how could the young players who had successfully risen to the top cherish their hard-won opportunities so much and show extreme resilience in major competitions that amazed foreign players?
Didn't you see that Lin Li managed to win the game despite completely changing his tactics and mentality?
Of course, over the years, there are many young players in the national team who have been directly crushed under heavy pressure. However, if they collapse, they will collapse. Huaping has too many talents. If you are less, it will be a lot, and if you are more, it will not be too much. Naturally, other people who can withstand the heavy pressure will stand out and shoulder the heavy burden.
It's just that in recent years, the national team's young players have generally been somewhat unsatisfactory.
National Second Team's lineup expanded from seven or eight people to 12 or 3 people, and then to 18 people. They were given enough opportunities to challenge the first team every year, but no one was able to break through the barriers and grab a top spot from the five main players.
In fact, the second team is more like a training partner, substitute and reserve team for the first team. When no one from the second team steps up, the five main players of the first team can only hold on, even if four of the five main players are not strong enough.
"We can't declare to the outside world that there is only one main player, right? So the other four are actually just a make-up. Sun Tianlong is in the first bracket, the four of them are in the first bracket, and the others are in the first bracket. This is the real situation of Huaping today."
He Jingping leaned back and let out a long breath. "If the situation wasn't so critical and there was such an urgent need for someone who could succeed Sun Tianlong, how could I be so ashamed after wasting Luo Jiu's talent? I am really... ashamed of Huaping!"
Thanks to "King's Victory Song" and "Archaeological Saint Son" for the reward.