Guo Yuehua, Cai Zhenhua, Jiang Jialiang, Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui......
These are the leaders who have led an era in the history of Chinese men's table tennis, but some old fans should know that between Jiang Jialiang and Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui, there is actually a generation of Chinese men's table tennis.
It's just that because the Chinese men's table tennis team was at a low point at that time, it was rare to win the championship in the world series, so everyone was not very familiar with that generation of Chinese men's table tennis players.
In fact, during that period, there were also many outstanding players in Chinese men's table tennis, and the one we want to talk about today is Liu Guoliang's direct brother, and he has single-handedly cultivated today's Chinese men's table tennis head coach Wang Hao and the number one main force Fan Zhendong.
Now, follow the editor's text into Wang Tao's table tennis world:
One
Born in Beijing in 1967, Wang Tao is 57 years old.
Wang Tao was born in a military family, Wang Tao's father was a literary soldier in the army's art troupe, but when Wang Tao's father was a child, his dream was to become an athlete, but because of the poor family conditions when he was a child, Wang Tao's father chose to enter the army as a literary soldier.
After entering the army, Wang Tao's father's love for sports has not diminished at all, and because the army often organizes sports competitions.
Therefore, Wang Tao's father began to practice sports again, and later became a member of the basketball team of his art troupe, and he was also the main member of the table tennis team.
It can be said that Wang Tao's father has always had a sports dream in his heart, but although he later became a member of the basketball team and table tennis team of the art troupe, it is difficult for him to go further, not to mention that he has to do his job well.
So, Wang Tao's father pinned his unfinished sports dream on his child, when Wang Tao's mother was pregnant with her second child, that is, Wang Tao.
Wang Tao's father discussed with his wife that if the child was born as a daughter, he would train her to do literary and artistic work, and if he was born a boy, he would let him practice sports.
Although Wang Tao's father wants his children to inherit his sports dreams, in fact, in the hearts of the couple, they still want to have a daughter, because their first child is a son.
But in the end, their second child is still a son, that is, Wang Tao, as if Wang Tao is destined to practice sports in the future.
When Wang Tao was three years old, his father began to take him in and out of the table tennis hall, because Wang Tao was too young, Wang Tao's father also made a special racket for his son.
Wang Tao's father first tore off the rubber of the racket he used to use, and then sawed it into a small racket.
Fearing that these thorns would scratch his son, Wang Tao's father first sanded it with sandpaper, and then with a toothbrush, and it took several days to make his hands almost worn out before he finished making this small racket.
After the racket was ready, Wang Tao's father got two special rubber sheets from the national player Li Peng through a friend, cut them to the same size as the small racket, and glued them to the small racket.
In this way, a well-made small racket was completed, Wang Tao's father called this small racket "little baby", after he told Wang Tao the name, Wang Tao held the racket and kept cheering: "Little baby, little baby".
Two
After the rubber of the racket was ready, Wang Tao's father took his son to start adaptive training first.
At first, he first asked Wang Tao to stand two meters away from him, he hit the ball with a racket, let Wang Tao judge the direction of the shot, and hit the ball with him.
At first, Wang Tao's father hit the ball very slowly, so Wang Tao could always hit the ball, which made Wang Tao very happy, and he was naturally addicted to this "game".
In this way, Wang Tao's father agreed with his son to play for an hour every day, and after a long time, a "table tennis fever" began to set off in their neighborhood, and many neighbors told Wang Tao's father that he would also bring their children when he took his son to play table tennis.
In this way, Wang Tao began to have several partners who played together, and later Wang Tao's father also made a second-hand standard table and began formal training with several children.
In addition to training, Wang Tao's father often takes his son to the stadium or park to watch amateur masters play.
In such an environment, Wang Tao's level progressed quickly, and when he was 6 years old, his father prepared a standard racket for him, and slowly Wang Tao became a well-known table tennis "little master".
Wang Tao's father naturally hoped that his son could become a professional table tennis player, but at that time, the country was in a turbulent period, so Wang Tao's father could only take his son to practice first.
In 1979, the domestic atmosphere slowly improved, and Wang Tao was about to enter junior high school this year, both in his heart and in his father's heart, he hoped that Wang Tao could continue to walk on the road of table tennis.
For this dream, Wang Tao joined the army and entered the infrastructure engineering table tennis team, but who knew that after training here for a year, the infrastructure engineering unit was canceled and the infrastructure engineering table tennis team was naturally disbanded.
Wang Tao, who was only a teenager at the time, faced a difficult choice, that is, whether to continue playing table tennis, if he insisted on playing table tennis, then his best way out was to go to the Xinjiang Military Region Sports Team, but let Wang Tao stay away from Beijing and go to distant Xinjiang, the whole family could not accept it.
If he doesn't go, then Wang Tao may come to an end on the road of table tennis, which means that Wang Tao's countless days and nights of hard training have come to naught.
After thinking about it for a few days, Wang Tao, who was only 13 years old, made a decision, that is, to go to the Xinjiang Military Region Physical Engineering Team to continue training.
I thought about all the difficulties in my heart, but after actually getting on the train, Wang Tao was still a little scared, after all, this was the first time he had gone out alone since he was born.
And the train from Beijing to Urumqi in Xinjiang takes three days and three nights, and when Wang Tao goes to bed on the first night, he looks at the Gobi Desert, and when he gets up the next day, it is still the Gobi Desert.
After arriving at the station where the Xinjiang Military Region Physical Work Team is located, because it is located on a plateau, the air is thin, which makes Wang Tao, who has been staying in Beijing before, unable to adapt for a while.
But for Wang Tao, this experience is the most valuable part of his career and later life, Wang Tao later said in an interview: "I think that time in Xinjiang not only improved a lot in playing training, but also honed my perseverance. ”
Three
In 1983, 16-year-old Wang Tao was seconded to the Bayi team to participate in the National Youth Table Tennis Championships held in Qingdao.
was seconded to the Bayi team, which made Wang Tao and his family very happy, because the station of the Bayi team is in Beijing, not far from Wang Tao's home, so when Wang Tao's family thinks about him, they can see him every week.
In this way, after training in the Bayi team for 5 years, Wang Tao entered the national team, at this time Wang Tao was 21 years old, and he was not a young player in the national team.
But after entering the national team, Wang Tao not only couldn't play the main team, but also didn't even have the opportunity to play, because the coaching staff at that time thought that Wang Tao's style of play was outdated.
At that time, the head coach of the Chinese men's table tennis was Cai Zhenhua, who had just taken office, under the guidance of Cai Zhenhua, Wang Tao changed his anti-glue play three times before and after, but his strength still did not improve much, and he could only serve as a substitute in the team.
At the beginning of the article, it was said that the Chinese men's table tennis was at a low point at that time, but other foreign associations led by Sweden and South Korea were very strong, so at that time, Wang Tao thought that he would go abroad to play if he couldn't do it.
At this time, Xu Yinsheng, an old-timer of the Chinese table tennis team, stood up and said that Wang Tao's style of play was not backward, but that the Chinese table tennis team was not innovative enough.
Under Xu Yinsheng's instructions, Cai Zhenhua, Li Xiaodong and other coaches carefully adjusted the playing style for Wang Tao according to the characteristics of Wang Tao's left hand holding the racket, and finally let Wang Tao practice a unique backhand raw rubber, forehand backhand, and bounce arc ball play.
Wang Tao's overall technique is mainly based on the near stage, the forehand fast attack combined with the arc ball action is small, which can be combined with the backhand raw rubber near the platform, and the defense is also mostly based on the fast arc ball, insisting on not retreating, borrowing the power and rotation of the opponent's arc ball to achieve counter-attack, often catching the opponent off guard, and also ensuring a very high hit rate.
After a series of adjustments, Wang Tao finally played the main role in the national team, Sweden's Waldner and Persson in that era, and South Korea's Liu Nankui and Kim Zezhu were very powerful.
The strength of the Chinese men's table tennis team in singles is still a little weak compared to these opponents, so the coaching staff of the national table tennis men's team headed by Cai Zhenhua decided to use doubles as a breakthrough.
In the plan of Cai Zhenhua and the coaching staff, Wang Tao is one of the main players, and in the 16th Hungarian Table Tennis Championships in 1989, Wang Tao partnered Lu Lin to win the men's doubles championship.
In the 41st World Table Tennis Championships in 1991, Wang Tao partnered Liu Wei to win the mixed doubles championship, and at the same time partnered with Lu Lin to win the men's doubles runner-up.
In 1992, Wang Tao won the men's singles runner-up in the 13th Men's Singles World Cup, so he successfully got the ticket to the Barcelona Olympics.
At that time, Waldner, Gaiting and others in the European table tennis world were still at their peak, so the main goal of Chinese men's table tennis in the Barcelona Olympics was men's doubles.
At the Barcelona Olympics, there were two pairs of Chinese men's table tennis to participate in the men's doubles competition, one pair was Wang Tao Lu Lin, and the other was Ma Wenge Yu Shentong, in addition to Wang Tao also participated in the singles competition.
Ma Wenge and Shen Tong lost in the quarterfinals of men's doubles, so the hope of Chinese men's table tennis is placed on Wang Tao and Lu Lin.
Wang Tao and Lu Lin eventually defeated the French pair of Geiting and Elois and the Korean pair of Yoo Nam-kyu and Kim Taek-so all the way to the men's doubles final.
In the final, Wang Tao and Lu Lin's opponents were the 40th World Table Tennis Championships men's doubles champion German pair Roscoff and Fitzner, the opponent was very strong, but Wang Tao and Lu Lin did not have the slightest softness, and finally they successfully defeated their opponents with a big score of 3-2.
Wang Tao and Lu Lin's Olympic men's doubles gold medal is the only Olympic gold medal for Chinese men's table tennis in the trough, and it can be regarded as bringing great confidence to the Chinese men's table tennis in the trough.
Four
Probably when Cai Zhenhua became the head coach of Chinese men's table tennis, the relevant leaders instructed to train a group of "baby soldiers".
After the Barcelona Olympics, this group of "baby soldiers" began to enter the main layer of national table tennis, and they are Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui.
Although many outstanding players have emerged in the national table tennis men's team, Wang Tao is still a well-deserved leader of the men's team.
In the 42nd World Table Tennis Championships and the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships, Wang Tao won the mixed doubles and men's doubles championships, but the Chinese men's table tennis team competition has not been able to win the championship in the World Table Tennis Championships.
At that time, the Swedish men's table tennis team, under the leadership of Waldner and Persson, had won the World Championships men's team championship three times in a row, and the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships was held in Tianjin, China in 1995.
The World Table Tennis Championships held at home made the national table tennis coaching staff attach great importance to it, and they want to fight a "turnaround battle".
In the end, the Chinese table tennis team won all 7 championships of the Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships, in the men's team competition, Wang Tao served as the second singles, although he lost to Waldner in the first game, but in the deciding game he defeated Persson, contributing a vital point to the Chinese men's table tennis victory over the Swedish men's table tennis.
Wang Tao, who has always excelled in doubles, was eager to make a breakthrough in singles, so he set his sights on Atlanta 1996.
At the Atlanta Olympics, Wang Tao reached the finals in both doubles and singles, but in the end he lost to Liu Guoliang, the direct junior of the Bayi team, and he and Lu Lin lost to the younger Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui in the doubles.
At the 44th World Table Tennis Championships in Manchester in 1997, Wang Tao was 30 years old at this time, but he also participated in singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and team competitions.
At this time, Wang Tao mainly passed on his excellent experience to young players, such as he partnered with Ma Lin, who was 13 years younger than him, in the doubles competition.
In the mixed doubles competition, Wang Tao and Qi Baohua of the Hong Kong team partnered, and the original mission of the two was to win the championship as a gift for the return of Hong Kong in 97, but because they had not cooperated before, the ball did not match and finally failed to complete the mission.
After that, Wang Tao announced his retirement, and since then he has served as the head coach of the Bayi men's team and the head coach of the Bayi table tennis team, and has successively sent a large number of outstanding athletes such as Wang Hao, Fan Zhendong, and Zhou Yu to the national team.
In addition to his tenure on the Bayi team, Wang Tao also served as the deputy director of the Small Ball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China in 2017, and later changed to the deputy director of the Handball and Softball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.
Due to some special reasons, the Bayi Labor Brigade announced its dissolution a few years ago, and now Wang Tao has been promoted to director of the Handball Baseball and Softball Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee.
From this point of view, Wang Tao is the highest professional person in Chinese men's table tennis after Cai Zhenhua, of course, all of this is also earned by his hard work.
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