The one who had fallen behind was naturally Luo Jiu.
China Table Tennis had five main players. Four competed in this Table Tennis World Cup, and in the end, three reached the semifinals. The only one who failed to make it was Luo Jiu.
"What exactly happened to Dragon Team?" Wang Chao could not help asking what was on his mind.
He Jingping gave a bitter smile. "What else could it be? He's getting old."
Dragon Team's honors and injuries had always gone hand in hand. He had matured late, only winning the first World Champion title of his life at twenty-four. After that, he steadily entered an invincible realm. Before he knew it, seven years had passed.
During those seven years, he had reached the finals of every major tournament he entered and ultimately claimed the championship.
Not once had there been an exception.
For anyone else to win a title, there was only one possibility: Dragon Team had not entered.
Fortunately, Dragon Team was getting older and his injuries were mounting, so he had withdrawn from many events—especially the ITTF World Tour, which had the most tournaments and the least prestige. That gave others quite a few opportunities.
But few people noticed that over those long seven years, more than half of Dragon Team's opponents in the finals had been foreign players.
So if Dragon Team had not competed, could the other China players definitely have reached the finals?
That question was actually difficult to answer.
Whether it was the slightly older Lin Li and Luo Jiu, or the recently rising Bai Feng, all of them had suffered more or less defeats against foreign players.
But even when they lost, Dragon Team would cover for them afterward, ensuring the championship would not fall into another country's hands.
That