After the draw for the women's singles group of the Macau World Cup, the fans also pinched a cold sweat for Chen Meng, the first sister of the national table tennis, and Chen Meng's signing for the World Cup this time can be said to be too unlucky. In addition to encountering the Indian monster player Akula in the group stage, Sister Meng was once again divided into the bottom half of the zone with Wang Manyu in the second stage. This is also the third time that Chen Meng has been in the lower half of the district with Wang Manyu after Singapore and Incheon.
Akula is an upgraded version of Batra, with many changes in the backhand and a big forehand threat, and Chen Meng's group qualification is in suspense.
India's Akula's battle to fame was at this year's World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, where she defeated Wang Yidi 3-0. In the Singapore Grand Slam that ended not long ago, Wang Manyu met Akula in the first round, fought fiercely with his opponent in five games, and narrowly won 11-8 in the deciding game. From the perspective of technical analysis, Akula can be said to be an upgraded version of India's first sister Batra.
In terms of backhand: Akula has more changes in fast knocks and fast arches, and once the spin is not clear, it is easy to pull the ball out of bounds or go to the net. In addition, the most difficult thing about Akula is that her first three boards are all combination punches, and she has a lot of offensive routines. The use of long knocks, arches, blocks and other techniques created a lot of opportunities for her next board attack. Forehand: Akula's forehand is dominated by overshoots, similar to Ito, but she has a higher chance of coming to power and is more threatening than Batra.
The main anti-pull ability of the national table tennis women's team is relatively strong, but the strength of the Indian players is that the long rubber knocks a short ball and destroys your continuous anti-pull. National table tennis also has a long rubber sparring partner like He Zhuojia, but He Zhuojia mainly focuses on backhand bounces, and the backhand changes and forehand lethality are not as good as Akula. The group stage adopts a 4-game system, Chen Meng has a problem with slow heating, and she has not played against Akula, once she falls behind 0-2, it is also possible to go out of the group stage.
In 3 consecutive races, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu were in the lower half of the area, and the first two stops have been achieved by Wang Manyu to achieve a "double kill".
If Chen Meng passes the Akula hurdle and successfully qualifies from the group, she will reach the women's singles final at the Macau World Cup, or win the championship, and she will have to pass Wang Manyu's hurdle again. According to the format of this year's World Cup, after qualifying from the group, the top 4 players are locked. The second and fourth groups are in the lower half, and the first and third groups are in the upper half. In other words, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu are in the lower half, and Wang Yidi and Sun Yingsha are in the upper half.
In this way, Chen Meng competed in Singapore, Incheon, and Macau in 3 stops in a row, and he was in the lower half of the region with Wang Manyu. In the first two games, Chen Meng lost to Wang Manyu, with her current ability and 30+ age, Chen Meng is likely to be sent by Wang Manyu to lose 3 consecutive defeats in the Macau World Cup. In fact, throughout the 2023 competition, Chen Meng has not tasted victory against Wang Manyu. Once Chen Meng loses to Wang Manyu again at the Macau World Cup, her singles at the Paris Olympics will almost be lost in advance.
What do you think of Chen Meng's women's singles draw grouping?Can the first sister of national table tennis win the women's singles championship in Macau?