The ITTF Table Tennis Team Championships will be held in Busan, South Korea from February 16th to 25th, which is the most important event in table tennis before the Paris Olympics, and it is also the outpost and best training opportunity for the Chinese table tennis team to prepare for the Paris Olympics. For the Chinese table tennis team, there is only one goal in this competition, which is to win the men's and women's team championships at the World Table Tennis Championships again, with the men's team striving for 11 consecutive championships and the women's team striving for 6 consecutive championships. So, table tennis fans can enjoy another table tennis feast and feast.
Let's start with the men's team. This time, the Chinese men's team is led by the World Table Tennis Championships men's singles champion Fan Zhendong, the veteran Ma Long is participating for the 9th time, and there are Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan and other main players to help, the strength of the Chinese team is very strong, and it is also the strongest set of men's team lineup. This lineup is completely consistent with the lineup of the 2022 Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships, and through this competition, the Chinese men's team lineup for the Paris Olympics will also be basically finalized.
The main opponents of the Chinese men's team are Japan, Germany, South Korea and other teams. In the team competition of the last World Table Tennis Championships, the Japanese team almost knocked the Chinese team off the horse in the semifinals, which shocked everyone into a cold sweat. In particular, the Japanese genius Tomokazu Zhangmoto defeated Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong successively, scoring 2 points alone, and his performance was very amazing, so the Japanese team was also the number one enemy of the Chinese men's team in this competition. Before the game, Tomokazu Zhang also confidently said that their goal is to defeat the Chinese team and win the team gold medal at the World Table Tennis Championships.
The German team entered the finals of the first two World Table Tennis Championships team competitions, and they were also a roadblock on the road to the Chinese men's team's victory. The German team has Qiu Dang, ranked 9th in the world, as well as two veterans of Ocharov and Bol, and the overall strength is good. They will once again launch a strong attack on the Chinese team in this competition. Qiu Dang has achieved good results in the past two years, and in the Doha finals in January this year, he defeated Chinese players Lin Shidong and Liang Jingkun.
It is worth noting that South Korea, as the host of the competition this time, has the advantage of the right time and place, which should not be underestimated. In this competition, the South Korean men's team sent Zhang Yuzhen, Lim Zhongxun, Lee Sang-so and other players, and their goal was to strive for the podium, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Korean men's team is also aiming for the team gold medal at the World Table Tennis Championships. Although the strength of his South Korean men's team is somewhat different from that of Japan and Germany, South Korea often plays at a high level in home games. Old fans must remember that in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the men's singles gold medal in table tennis was won by South Korea's Liu Nankui.
In addition, the French team with Lin Yunru and the Lebrun brothers also has a strong strength, and the Chinese men's team should also be highly valued, remembering not to capsize in Xiaohegou. Chinese Taipei is the runner-up of the men's team at last year's Asian Championships, and Lin Yunru is the third runner-up in the men's singles at the 2019 World Cup.
As the top seeds, the Chinese men's team will be in a group with Croatia, Belgium and Cuba, and there should be no problem for the Chinese men's team to win the group, and they will face new opponents in the knockout round. The other seeds in the men's team are Germany, South Korea, France, Japan, Sweden, Brazil and Portugal.
Let's look at the situation of the women's team. Chinese women's table tennis has always been the leader of women's table tennis in the world, and all the current women's Grand Slam players are Chinese table tennis players. The Chinese table tennis women's team sent Sun Yingsha, Wang Yidi, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Chen Xingtong to participate in the battle this time, with top strength, and all team members are ranked in the top 10 in the world, and their records in the past two years are also very dazzling and outstanding. The only difference from the 2022 Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships is that the head coach of the women's team has been changed from Li Falcon to Ma Lin. Before the game, the head coach of the women's team, Ma Lin, said that through this competition, it is necessary to better hone the will and quality of the players and make various preparations for the Paris Olympics.
The main opponent of the Chinese women's team in the World Table Tennis Championships is the Japanese team. The Japanese women's team sent Hina Hayata, Mimato Ito, Miu Hirano, Miyu Kihara, and 15-year-old Miwa Zhang to compete in the team competition of this World Table Tennis Championships. Hina Hayata, who has twice defeated China's Wang Yidi in the women's singles at the World Table Tennis Championships and the Asian Games in Hangzhou, is the biggest enemy of Chinese women's table tennis. It should be pointed out that the Japanese team has determined the list of participants in the Olympic Games very early through domestic selection, so this competition is the best actual combat drill for the Japanese team, and of course, there will not be too many secrets in their arrangement.
In addition, the main opponents of the Chinese women's team are Hong Kong, China (led by Du Kaiqin), Chinese Taipei (led by Zheng Yijing), Germany (led by Han Ying), France (led by Yuan Jianan), Romania (led by Szokos) and the host South Korean women's team (led by Shin Yubin and Tian Zhixi). In particular, it was pointed out that Szokos had defeated China's Chen Meng twice and became Chen Meng's nemesis, and I don't know if Chen Meng has a chance to take revenge this time.
The Chinese women's team, as the top seed in this tournament, will face Hungary, India and Spain in the group stage. The Indian team has strong players such as Batra, but it is difficult to challenge the Chinese women's table tennis, and the Chinese women's team will unsurprisingly win the first place in the group and then enter the knockout stage. Other seeded teams in the women's team include Japan, Germany, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Hong Kong, Romania and France.
The men's and women's teams in this competition are divided into 8 groups, after the group round-robin, the first place in the 8 groups directly enters the round of 16, the group name is determined by drawing lots, and the winner can also enter the knockout round of 16.
It is worth noting that the team competition of the World Table Tennis Championships is also a qualification for the Paris Olympics, and the top 16 can qualify for the Paris Olympics. Since the Chinese table tennis men's and women's teams both won the Asian Championships team championship in September last year, they have actually locked in the Olympic team qualification in advance, so training for the Paris Olympics and observing and selecting Olympic team players has become a major purpose of national table tennis.
The Chinese table tennis women's team will face the Indian team at 9 am on the 16th, and the Chinese table tennis men's team will face the Belgian team at 7 pm on the 16th. In the team competition of the World Championships, it is very important to get off to a good start to improve the morale of the team, so the Chinese table tennis men's and women's teams, which are outstanding, are also very much worth looking forward to in the opening game of the World Table Tennis Championships. CCTV Sports Channel will broadcast the match of the Chinese men's team live, and fans can cheer for the national table tennis in front of the TV.