With the end of the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, the competition pattern of the national table tennis women's team on the Shangbao Circuit has become complex and closely intertwined. In the third-person battle between Wang Yidi and Wang Manyu, it seems that a phased result has been ushered in.
This Busan World Table Tennis Championships is not only the last team competition before the upcoming Paris Olympics, but also the moment when the national table tennis coaching staff will conduct the final field test of the team lineup of the Ba'an team. They made it clear that this is the final look at the overall lineup.
The coherence of the atmosphere in the team event is particularly important in the competition, because success does not only depend on the level of singles, but also on doubles, which requires close teamwork.
However, at this World Table Tennis Championships, Wang Yidi has been serving as the third singles, but her performance is not satisfactory. In the first round of the group stage with India, Wang Yidi lost 0-3 to Akula; And in the final against Japan, she lost 0-3 to Miu Hirano in the three-singles duel.
What's even more worrying is that Wang Yidi's two defeats were immediately followed by the mistakes of his teammates, pushing the Chinese team directly to the brink of life and death 1-2.
Ma Lin, head coach of the national table tennis women's team, said that a comprehensive strategic requirement had been formulated before the game, requiring every game to be treated like a final! For the national table tennis that aims to defend the title, the only pursuit is to be "ruthless" in the final.
Wang Yidi's loss was a serious problem for the team and for her personally. As the No. 3 singles, she was only responsible for this set in the entire match, with no room for error and no chance to make up for it. Unlike Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng and even Wang Chuqin of the men's team, they also have a chance to turn the situation around in the later games and mitigate the adverse impact on the team.
But for Wang Yidi, losing is losing, irretrievable, and unable to redeem himself. Both the Indian team and the Japanese team are rare strong opponents in the national table tennis team, and her defeat will inevitably raise doubts about her strength.
As for whether the coaching staff will reflect on their strategy, Wang Manyu is now ranked fourth in the women's team in both points systems and can only act as a spectator in the knockout rounds, unable to play for the team. However, in the two appearances in the group stage, Wang Manyu performed well and can be said to be perfect.
Especially in the first round, the losses of Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi put the Chinese team in a crisis, but Wang Manyu stepped forward under continuous pressure and successfully saved the team twice, becoming the key figure in the Chinese team's counterattack.
If every game is equivalent to the final in the hearts of the coaching staff, then Wang Manyu has successfully played the role of savior in at least one game.
On the Grand Slam stage, Wang Manyu not only filled the hole in front of the team, but also successfully reduced the pressure behind her, and she is undoubtedly the best choice for team battles.
The selection rules for the national table tennis Olympic team competition clearly stipulate that the team is composed of three players, the top two players are the top two players, and the third place is directly designated by the coaching staff according to various considerations.
This gives the "third place" a special meaning that goes beyond points. Differences in the growth and decline of positive contrasts can often have a huge impact. While Wang Yidi's performance was not good, Wang Manyu emerged, and then experienced a more severe test.
In this case, who would dare to say that Wang Manyu did not succeed in completing the task of transcendence? If the so-called fan support and fan public opinion are just laymen's views in the eyes of the national team coaching staff, and it is an amateur's one-sided cognition, then an important basis for the coaching staff's decision-making is"data"。
Using big data for modeling and derivation is one of the most scientific, objective and accurate decision-making methods in today's era. Wang Yidi and Wang Manyu's match data will inevitably be comprehensively collected and an intuitive comparative analysis will be generated.
In athletic competition, victory or defeat is the difference between life and death. And Wang Manyu, she is like a brave warrior, charging ahead, stabilizing the rear, and becoming the mainstay of the team. Her outstanding performance not only brought victory to the game, but also won countless applause and praise for the Chinese team.
In general, Wang Yidi did not rank second in the world out of thin air, but achieved it through hard work. However, in the upcoming Paris Olympics, the Chinese table tennis team and the Japanese women's team will inevitably compete more fiercely, so the performance of Japanese players will become an important criterion for testing Wang Yidi.
During this period, Wang Manyu's record against Japan was to win all singles, but lost one in doubles. Wang Yidi, on the other hand, has lost to Japanese players five times and is basically in a state of being fully suppressed by the Japanese team.
This data will certainly be an important basis for the coaching staff's evaluation. According to the current selection rankings, Wang Yidi's leading position may be erased when the coaching staff makes a final decision.
The Chinese table tennis team's Olympic singles quota will be allocated 100% according to the selection points, which is also a common practice in all associations. In this way, the Japan Table Tennis Association has finalized and announced the Olympic roster.
At present, Sun Yingsha, who is ranked first in points, has already secured Olympic qualification, whether it is singles, team or mixed doubles, there is no dispute. The competition for another singles spot on the women's team is still fierce. If Wang Yidi is affected by the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, then Chen Meng and Wang Manyu will be the focus of competition.
At present, Chen Meng is less than 3,000 points ahead of Wang Manyu in points, and there are still a number of competitions to be played before the Olympian deadline on May 7, including a 7,000-point competition. In theory, that's enough for either of them to achieve their Olympic dreams.