On October 10, Beijing time, the final stage of the 2023 National Table Tennis Championship was fiercely contested in Yangzhou. The opening match featured a highly anticipated showdown in which Shanghai's "People's Artist" Xu Xin faced Liaoning's young player Xu Haidong.
As a participant in this national championship, Xu Xin lost his qualification as a seeded player because he did not participate in the national team training for a long time, and began to compete in the first round of the 32-point final. His opponent is Xu Haidong from Liaoning, a straight boarder born in 2000, although he won the World Table Tennis Championships triple crown in 2018 and was selected for the national team, but has relatively few results in international competitions.
Before the start of the match, Xu Xin was considered a strong contender for a high-level matchup. However, it was obvious from the beginning of the game that Xu Xin's state was far from his peak. When facing the post-00s youngster Xu Haidong, Xu Xin fought hard for 4 games and finally lost 1-3 and suffered a round of swimming, which can be regarded as a big upset in his fame and strength.
In the men's singles competition, Xu Xin's defeat was not unexpected. Due to the lack of systematic training of the national team, Xu Xin is currently in a semi-retired state, and his physical state and competitive state are not as good as Xu Haidong, who is training with the national team. Xu Xin can participate in the national championship, be able to stand on the court again, and show his skills in front of the fans, which is already a happiness and satisfaction.
Looking at the game process in depth, at the beginning of the first game, Xu Xin showed a very good state, quickly scored 5 consecutive points and scored directly with his serve. However, Xu Haidong then showed excellent responsiveness, and he used a variety of serves and attacks to counter Xu Xin, allowing the latter to make more mistakes when receiving the serve and pulling from the far table. In the end, Xu Xin lost the first game 8-11.
At the beginning of the second game, Xu Xin was still passive and trailed 1-5 in the opening period. In contrast, Xu Haidong's forehand and backhand ability are very balanced. In the middle of the game, Xu Haidong successfully twisted Xu Xin's backhand, and Xu Xin tried to return a back-to-back catch, but unfortunately failed. Scoring by receiving the serve directly, Xu Haidong won another game 11-8.
In the third game, Xu Xin still struggled to find form, and although he was already in the downside against the far platform, he used his rich experience to deal with his opponents and took the lead at one point. Although Xu Haidong chased 8 draws, Xu Xin scored three consecutive points to win the game 11-8 after a return goal.
However, in the fourth game, Xu Xin once again fell into a passive situation, and was forced to call a timeout at the beginning of the game 0-3. After the timeout ended, Xu Haidong continued to extend his lead. For some long billiards that he once easily dealt with, Xu Xin made frequent mistakes this time. Xu Haidong found the magic weapon to win, that is, forced Xu Xin to step back, and finally defeated Xu Xin 10-1, pushing him to the end of a round.
At the scene of the game, many fans complained about the broadcast equipment. Because during the game, you can often hear the intermittent "zila zila" sound, and even there is a silence for a while, which affects the fans' viewing experience to a certain extent. Despite this, the fans were still happy because they had the opportunity to witness Xu Xin's return to the ring and watch him play.
Through the results of this match, it is not difficult to find that Xu Xin's loss to Xu Haidong is not an accident. Although from the perspective of fame, Xu Xin's loss can be regarded as a big upset, but considering that he has been away from the national team for a long time without systematic training and is in a semi-retired state, his decline is understandable. For fans, it is already a satisfaction to be able to see Xu Xin participate and stage a wonderful matchup, even if the result of the match is not satisfactory.
To sum up, the result of the game was surprising, but reasonable. Xu Xin's defeat reminds us once again that sports competition requires not only talent, but also perseverance in training and maintaining form. The match also brought some regret to the audience, and the problem of live broadcast equipment affected the viewing experience of some fans. However, being able to witness Xu Xin's return with his own eyes is enough to make fans feel happy and satisfied.