On February 16, 2024, the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan ushered in the end of the first day of competition, and the three world champions suffered defeats, Sun Yingsha, Wang Yidi, and Ni Xialian all lost, while Mexico's Bachenas scored 11-0 to achieve the first landslide victory of the tournament. The national table tennis got off to a good start, and the men's and women's teams both achieved a complete victory.
The Chinese men's table tennis team defeated Belgium and Hungary 3-0 to make their debut in the top three in the world. Fan Zhendong kept a clean sheet against Nuitik, Wang Chuqin swept past Larsenfors, and Ma Long won against Allegro despite losing a game. In addition, Germany also won 3-0 against the United States and Kazakhstan against Saudi Arabia. It is worth mentioning that the world champion Bol temporarily announced his retirement. Elsewhere, South Korea beat Poland 3-1 and Chile beat New Zealand 3-0, but Ahn Jae-hyun lost to Dias in the match.
France beat Denmark 3-1 and Austria beat Algeria 3-0; Simon Goetz lost. Japan won the group of five without going head-to-head, while the Czech Republic won 3-1 against Madagascar, with Aruna forced to abstain due to food poisoning. Sweden won 3-0 against Slovakia in Group 6, while Serbia beat Puerto Rico 3-1. Singapore beat Brazil 3-0 and Canada beat Malaysia 3-2; Portugal beat Romania 3-0 and Iran beat Thailand 3-0. The strength of the Swedish team should not be underestimated.
Group 1 of the Chinese team fought until the last minute in the match against the Indian team and finally won 3-2; Spain, on the other hand, won 3-1 against Uzbekistan. Due to not adapting to the opponent's special style of play, Sun Yingsha lost to Ashika, and Wang Yidi also lost to Akula. Subsequently, Sun Yingsha defeated Batra, and Wang Manyu performed well at critical moments, defeating Aishka and Batra in a row, making everyone sweat for the three of them. It also made the coaching team realize that they were careless.
Group 2 saw the top opponents settle down, with Japan beating Luxembourg 3-0 and Iran beating South Africa 3-0. In the match, Zhang Benmei easily defeated Ni Xialian, despite the age difference between the two by 45 years. In Group 3, Germany won 3-1 against Poland and Mexico also beat Nigeria 3-1. Unfortunately, chipper Han Ying did not participate in the game, but Mittram. Nina did a great job and won all of them. In addition, Shan Xiaona lost to Bayol, but fortunately, Mexico's Bacenas scored the first landslide 11-0 victory in the history of the World Table Tennis Championships in the tiebreaker against Adam.
In other matches, Chinese Taipei beat Thailand 3-1 and Chile beat Algeria 3-0. South Korea beat Italy 3-0 and Malaysia beat Cuba 3-0. Hong Kong beat Austria 3-1 and Kazakhstan narrowly beat Australia 3-2, with Doo Hoi Kim contributing two points. Romania beat Sweden 3-0 and Serbia beat Canada 3-1. The French team narrowly defeated the Czech Republic 3-2, and the Ukrainian team narrowly beat the Croatian team 3-2.
The national table tennis men's team faced Cuba in the second round of the group stage, and the women's team faced Uzbekistan, and the two teams were relatively weak, so there was no suspense about the result. At present, the four main players of the Chinese team have not yet appeared, and the coaching staff also plans to rotate the squad in order to get the whole team back into form. Overall, this stage is relatively easy, and although there may be some twists and turns, the Chinese team will eventually emerge victorious. The real highlight will be played later, so stay tuned.