On February 21, the knockout round of the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan began. The Chinese men's and women's teams, which had byes in the first round, defeated Romania and Thailand respectively in the 1 8 finals without losing a game and advanced to the top 8 together.
Photo provided by WTT World Table Tennis Federation Chinese men's table tennis sent the "Fat Dragon" last finals lineup in the first round of the knockout round. In the first set, facing world No. 95 Oviedou Ionescu, Wang Chuqin failed to adapt to the opponent's style of play and rhythm quickly at the beginning, falling behind 2-8. However, the "big head" adjusted in time and staged a reversal of 12-10, taking risks to win the "good start". He then won two games in a row with an 11-4 advantage.
In the next two sets, Fan Zhendong and Ma Long also defeated their opponents 3-0 respectively. In the 1 4 finals, the Chinese team will encounter the Japanese team that narrowly defeated them in the last World Table Tennis Championships. Captain Malone said it would be a difficult battle, "but I believe my teammates and I are ready. ”
Table Tennis World magazine in the women's team 1 8 finals held earlier, the Chinese team composed of Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi faced the Thai team and also defeated the opponent 3-0 in three sets, and Chen Meng also beat the opponent 11-0 in the third game of the first set. After the game, several female players said that entering the knockout round should not be missed, and the energy on the field should be more concentrated. Sun Yingsha said that every knockout game is a "battle of life and death", and we must go all out to fight and "focus on every point." Chen Meng also said that after entering the knockout round, he was more active, more focused, and did not dare to relax for a single point, so he played a disparity in the score, "Although I was leading 2-0 at that time, I still wanted to pick every point in the process." ”