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Text: Moon Begonia
Edited by Yue Haitang
Preface:
Wang Chuqin is out, is the dominance of the Chinese table tennis team in the Olympic arena over?
On July 31, 2024, Beijing time, the result of a table tennis men's singles match shocked the entire sports world.
China's Wang Chuqin, the world's No. 1 and unrivaled top expert, actually suffered Waterloo in the second round of the men's singles at the Paris Olympics, and was defeated 4-2 by Sweden's Moregard Gaud in 19th place to stop the round of 16.
Yesterday was brilliant, today is lonely
I still remember that just yesterday, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha defeated the Korea pair in the mixed doubles final and won the first gold medal of this Olympic Games.
At that moment, Wang Chuqin's face was filled with the joy of victory, and he accepted the cheers and congratulations of the audience.
However, who would have thought that just one day later, the main player of Chinese table tennis would experience a big ups and downs in his life.
At the press conference after the game, Wang Chuqin could not hide his loss and frustration.
He said that in yesterday's mixed doubles final, his main ball was accidentally stepped on by his opponent and damaged, although the team doctor and staff rushed to repair it overnight, but after all, it could not fully recover as before.
In order not to affect today's men's singles match, Wang Chuqin decided to use one of his own sub-bats to play.
"I was confident that I would be able to overcome this, but obviously I underestimated the impact of changing beats on the feel and tempo."
Wang Chuqin said, "I couldn't find my best form throughout the game, and I was always a little bit behind. "
Out of the blue, Moregard's astonishing rise
If Wang Chuqin's defeat is also an objective factor of racket damage, then Sweden's Moregard's amazing strength in this game should not be underestimated.
The 22-year-old debutant, who made his debut at the 2017 World Junior Championships with Wang Chuqin, has also made his mark on the international stage in the past few years, but in terms of qualifications and achievements, it is obvious that he cannot be compared with Wang Chuqin.
However, Moregard's performance today completely proved that he is not here to join in the fun.
At the beginning of the game, he relied on his flexible footwork and sharp attack to go down two cities and force Wang Chuqin into a desperate situation.
Although Wang Chuqin tried to adjust in the third and fourth games to recover two points, Moregard did not panic because of this, but became more composed, scoring consecutive points on key points, and finally won the tiebreaker 11-9 and 11-6, successfully eliminated the defending champion, and created the biggest upset in the table tennis event of this Olympic Games.
After the game, Moregard fell to his knees in excitement and burst into tears.
For this Sweden boy, defeating Wang Chuqin is like climbing a peak in life.
You must know that he and Wang Chuqin have played 8 times in the past, all of them were defeated, and even in a game not long ago, he was bloodbathed by Wang Chuqin 4-0.
However, Moregard was not discouraged by this, and instead trained harder to find and make up for his shortcomings.
Now, he has finally proven himself on the stage of the Olympic Games, breaking the absolute dominance of Chinese players in the table tennis world.
Chinese table tennis, where is the road?
Wang Chuqin's exit has also changed the championship situation of the Chinese table tennis team in the upper and lower halves of the championship.
Originally, the men's singles "double insurance" that people had high hopes for is now only Fan Zhendong alone to support the crisis.
In the next match, the world's No. 2 player will undoubtedly be under tremendous pressure, because the eyes of the entire national table tennis team, and even hundreds of millions of Chinese fans, will focus on him alone.
At the same time, with Moregard's victory, the rest of the world will undoubtedly be inspired.
Tomokazu Zhang of Japan, Calderano of Brazil, Jung Young-sik of Korea and other good players will launch a fierce attack on Fan Zhendong.
And the host France's Lebrun brothers are also bound to do their best to fight for the final victory in the cheers of the home crowd.
It is foreseeable that the ownership of the men's singles champion may have to go through a fierce battle before the dust can settle.
Epilogue:
Looking back on the glorious history of the Chinese table tennis team in the Olympic arena, the duel between Wang Chuqin and Moregard is actually just a small wave in the long river.
Since the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games table tennis officially entered the Olympic Games, the Chinese team has always occupied a dominant position, winning gold medals in almost all events.
Even if there are occasional setbacks, the indomitable fighting spirit and the spirit of always striving for the first place in Chinese table tennis people make them reborn from the ashes and achieve new results every time.
Therefore, Wang Chuqin's defeat will not affect the overall strength of the Chinese table tennis team in the slightest, and will not shake the leading position of Chinese table tennis in the world.
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