The biennial Table Tennis Team World Championships kicked off on February 28 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the last international competition before the Rio Olympics, where countries want to see the strength of their opponents and test their own strength at the World Table Tennis Championships. The Chinese table tennis team is no exception, and the men's team has sent the strongest lineup, not only to train for the Rio Olympics, but also to accumulate talents for the Tokyo Olympic cycle.
Compared with the lone fight of singles, the advantage of team competitions in China seems to be greater, although the occasional increase in the 5-game 3-win game after the reformation, but the overall strength of national table tennis makes the game almost no suspense. It takes not only strength and courage to become a hero in the Team World Table Tennis Championships, but also a little luck. In the history of the team World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese team really has such a lone hero, who is Liu Guozheng, who saved 7 match points in the semi-finals of the men's team of the 46th World Table Tennis Championships in 2001 and sent the Chinese team to the final.
Liu Guozheng, born in 1980 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, began playing at the age of 6, entered the provincial team in 1991, entered the national second team in 1994, and entered the national team in 1995. Liu Guozheng has good strength, when he first entered the national team, it was the era of Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui, and then the era of Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, wang Hao, Liu Guozheng has not been able to become a super first-class player, although he has won the men's team world championship with the team, but the singles record has no more dazzling results except for the 1999 International Table Tennis Federation Tour finals Kong Linghui won the championship. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Liu Guozheng PK out Marlene, qualified for the Olympic singles, and lost to Sweden veteran Perlson in the 8-in-4 competition and missed the semifinals. Not winning the singles world title became the biggest regret of his career.
However, Liu Guozheng's career is a game that has been praised by countless table tennis fans and praised by countless table tennis people, and this game will forever be recorded in the classic battle of table tennis history! It is hard to find a matchup that is more deserving of such evaluations as "suffocating", "earth-shattering reversal" and "swinging intestines", which is the semi-final of the men's team at the 2001 Osaka World Table Tennis Championships.
In the 2001 World Table Tennis Championships men's team competition qualification sent Ma Lin, Liu Guozheng, Kong Linghui, Liu Guoliang, Wang Liqin to participate, 40mm balls were put into use in Osaka, and the international table tennis world is also quietly changing. With the outstanding performance of Liu Guozheng, Ma Lin, Wu Shangyan and Liu Chengmin, the Chinese and Korean teams entered the final four and met in advance. In this game, the Chinese team sent Kong Linghui and Liu Guozheng, who were good at dealing with the Korean team, to play the top two main players, and Ma Lin was the third singles to face South Korea's Oh Sang-woo, Kim Hee-so and Yoo Seung-min. When the outside world was unanimously optimistic about the Sweeping Of China, they did not think that the Chinese team was once forced to the edge of the cliff.
In the semi-finals, 21-year-old Liu Guozheng took the lead and took the initiative when facing South Korea's no. 1 main player, Wu Sang-yu, winning two consecutive sets for China with 21-12, 21-18. Grand Slam winner and Sydney Olympic men's singles champion Kong Linghui made his second appearance, and what surprised him was that he lost two consecutive sets 16-21, 17-21 as the main force of the first place, and lost to South Korea's number two man, Kim Jae-so. Fortunately, Ma Lin, who played in the third game, defeated the new star Liu Chengmin 21-12, 21-19, and the Chinese team once again led. At this time, Kong Linghui appeared again, just when people thought he could adjust to his state and shame on the snow, he once again lost to Wu Shangyu 26-24, 21-18, and the South Korean team equalized the score. The pressure suddenly came to the side of the Chinese team, China lost to Sweden at the World Table Tennis Championships a year ago and lost the men's team championship, this time with the belief of victory. In the final set, it was China's young player Liu Guozheng who faced South Korea's veteran Kim Ze-so, in the previous record of the two sides, the two sides were evenly divided, but at this time Kim Ze-so's competition experience prevailed.
At the start of the final set, Kanazawa-so was clearly more aggressive and well prepared for Liu Guozheng's first three-board advantage, he won the first set 21-16; he was in better shape in the first set, and the second set quickly led 8-3. Head coach Cai Zhenhua on the sidelines could not sit still and decisively called a timeout. Liu Guozheng, who returned to the field, gradually overtook and achieved a rebound, but was still won by Kanazawa Soo 20-19. However, the miracle also began to be staged from this moment.
19-20, 20-21, 21-22, Liu Guozheng fell behind again and again, and pulled back again and again, Kanazawa Su fought hard, many seemingly impossible balls he was not only able to save, or even directly attack, and Liu Guozheng was harder, facing Kim Taek-so's tough attack, he did not have the slightest weakness, and finally he won the second set at 24:22. When it came to the decider, Kanazawa Played Even More Wildly, 19-15, victory was just around the corner. The 21-year-old Liu Guozheng did not panic, chasing back point by point, 19-20, the South Korean team once again got the match point.
The suffocating moment came again, 19-20, 20-21, 21-22, 22-23, Liu Guozheng used a calm that surpassed everyone to pull the score to 23 draws. At this time, Kanazawa Soo's psychology collapsed, and as Kanazawa Su's last ball bounced out of bounds, 25-23, Liu Guozheng seized the opportunity of the first match point and won the game, thus also winning the whole game, sending the Chinese team on the edge of the cliff to the final. After the victory, Liu Guozheng raised his hands and roared, and then fell to the ground on his back, and his teammates frantically pounced on him to congratulate him. Cai Zhenhua on the sidelines kept shaking his head and breathed a long sigh of relief. And Kanazawa-so, who had the opportunity to create history, left tears of regret, 31-year-old he could not find a better opportunity, 7 match points, seize any one, defeat not only Liu Guozheng, but also a powerful Chinese team, and face the final opponent Belgium, it is likely to win the final championship!
'It was the best, most intense, tightest and most stressful game in my 11 years in charge. Cai Zhenhua used four "most" to describe the game; Li Furong said that this was the first time he had experienced such a wonderful and fierce scene in 40 years of running into the table tennis arena; Kong Linghui said that he thanked Liu Guozheng for bringing the Chinese team back to life, and even more grateful to him for saving his own life; Liu Guozheng himself said: "I know the weight of this ball, if I lose, I will regret it for a lifetime." "In the final, the Chinese team swept through Belgium without bloodshed and won back the Swathling Cup as desired." Marry Someone, marry Liu Guozheng" slogan resounded in the north and south of the great river...
With his miraculous performance at the Osaka World Table Tennis Championships, Liu Guozheng was once known as the "anti-Korean hero", and in 2004 he represented the Chinese team in the team competition of the 47th World Table Tennis Championships in 2004, and won his second and last championship with the team again. Since then, Liu Guozheng has gradually fallen into a low ebb, and the long-term accumulation of injuries has prevented him from recovering to the highest level. At the 2005 World Table Tennis Championships, he partnered with Poplar to finish second in mixed doubles as his last glory. On December 14, 2005, an accidental injury during training pushed Liu Guozheng into the operating room. But this operation was not successful, and then Liu Guozheng underwent a second operation, but after the operation, he could not adapt to the high-intensity training of national table tennis, and it became a luxury to return to the national team to participate in the competition. In 2008, 28-year-old Liu Guozheng announced his retirement.
After retiring, Liu Guozheng chose to stay in the national team and began to work as a trainee coach, assisting coach Wu Jingping in coaching Ma Lin and Wang Hao. On January 3, 2012, Liu Guozheng stood out from the 6-person competition and officially became the head coach of the national table tennis men's second team.
After retiring from the army, Liu Guozheng was not smooth sailing, and in 2009 he was persuaded to retire from Shanghai Jiaotong University. In September 2005, Liu Guozheng entered the International Economics and Trade Major of Antai College of Economics and Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. According to the relevant teaching regulations of the school, only by completing the corresponding credits can graduate and get a degree certificate, and Liu Guozheng has been unable to study normally because of the competition training and later coaching work, and finally the school has made an automatic withdrawal treatment. Talking about dropping out of school, he said that there was no other special reason, because the study time could not be guaranteed. "Nor is it because of a previous leg injury. I am now in Beijing, working as a coach in the national team, and I have not had time to go to school, so I chose to drop out of school. Liu Guozheng said, "I am now in the Beijing Sports University graduate program in sports management, normal words can be graduated after 3 years." When he talked about his study of sports management graduate students, he said that he hoped that what he had learned now could be more closely integrated with the coaching work he was engaged in, and that he could be of greater help in the future.
Although as early as 2001, the slogan of "marrying Liu Guozheng" was shouted out, it was not until 2010 that the 30-year-old Liu Guozheng became a family. On April 4, 2010, Liu Guozheng and Lu Lu, a 21-year-old "straight little princess", entered the marriage hall. Born on September 7, 1989 in Baoding, Hebei Province, Lu Lu plays for the Beijing Table Tennis Team and is a teammate of Table Tennis Empress Zhang Yining. In the 2009 National Games, together with Zhang Yining, Guo Yan, Ding Ning and others, they won the women's team championship for the Beijing team. Liu Guozheng and Lu Lu met in 2008, and the two came together because they studied at Beijing Sport University. After marriage, Lu Lu gave birth to two daughters for Liu Guozheng in the second half of 2011 and May 2014, the eldest daughter was named Liu Luhan, and the younger daughter was named Liu Yizhuo.
The magic of saving 7 match points is a thing of the past, and a down-to-earth life is real. From a lone hero to a coach, from a son to a husband to a grandfather, Liu Guozheng is experiencing and adapting to all the changes and enjoying multiple roles in life. For the future, Liu Guozheng said that in addition to making achievements in work, it is also his wish to cultivate more outstanding reserve talents and continue the glory of the Chinese table tennis team, and the happy and healthy growth of his two daughters is also his wish.
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