On March 7, Beijing time, a grand event in the table tennis world is about to kick off. WTT Singapore Grand Slam, this is another table tennis tournament after the Busan World Table Tennis Championships, and it is also one of the "four Grand Slam" events at the highest level of the WTT series.
Unlike the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, which only has team events, the Singapore Grand Slam will cover five individual events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles, and the winner of each event will receive a prize fund of US$100,000 and the same 2,000 points as the Olympic Games and the World Table Tennis Championships.
This tournament brings together the world's top table tennis players, the Chinese team sent 6 men and 6 women to participate in the singles, including Fan Zhendong, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan will play two, Wang Chuqin will play three, and strive to set off a national table tennis storm at the Singapore Sports Center.
The schedule for the first day has been announced, and the national table tennis players have not appeared for the time being, but the two powerful players of the Japanese team, Yuya Uda and Yutai Tanaka, will be the first to appear. Yukiya Uda is Japan's national champion, and Yutai Tanaka defeated Wang Chuqin at last year's WTT Bahrain Star Challenge. Their performance will set the tone for the subsequent competitions, and will also attract great attention from national table tennis.
The establishment of the Grand Slam is to replace the status of the original three major competitions (Olympic Games, World Table Tennis Championships, and World Cup) and create a more modern and professional table tennis brand. Although the Grand Slam has not yet fully achieved this goal, it has already had a profound impact on the table tennis world and is an important turning point in the history of table tennis.
Compared with the traditional three major tournaments, the Grand Slam has a higher entry threshold and stronger competitiveness. Only the world's top players are invited to participate in the Grand Slam tournaments, and there is a limit of six men and six women per country or region. This means that every match is an elite matchup, with no easy opponents. Especially in the singles event, the Grand Slam shows the highest level of table tennis, and every point is a hard fight.
In such an environment, the Chinese team still maintains a strong advantage, with a deep talent pool and rich experience, the Chinese team has won a large number of championships and bonuses in the Grand Slam. However, the Chinese team has also faced challenges from other countries and regions, especially the Japanese team, who have continued to improve their level in recent years and become the main competitors of the Chinese team.
The national table tennis sent the strongest lineup in this competition, and in the singles event, the male and female players are the top six masters in the world, including the men's team Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Ma Long, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun, Lin Shidong and the women's team Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, Chen Xingtong, Qian Tianyi. In this competition, the goal of the main players is no longer to get a good ranking and get a prize money. It's more about getting a quota place in the Olympics.
In the doubles event, the national table tennis also has an advantage, and the top seeds in the men's doubles and mixed doubles are the combination of the national table tennis, namely Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Wang Chuqin, and Sun Yingsha. Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin relied on their own strength advantages to beat other players. In addition to relying on their respective strengths, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha also have the tacit understanding blessing of many years of cooperation, and they are bound to win the mixed doubles championship.
This time, the national table tennis men's doubles also won a wild card place, composed of Ma Long Lin Gaoyuan, although the two of them rarely partner, but they are both veterans of national table tennis, with rich experience and stable form, I believe that they can get good results in the Grand Slam.
In order to prepare for the Olympic Games, the national table tennis women's doubles decided to let Chen Meng and Wang Manyu form a combination in this Grand Slam. From this point of view, the national table tennis still has a positive attitude towards Wang Manyu's Olympics.
The Grand Slam is the most important competition before the Olympic Games, and for national table tennis players, it is not only a competition with international opponents, but also a competition with domestic teammates. According to the rules, the singles champion will receive 2,000 world ranking points, and the national table tennis will also be rewarded with an additional 3,000 selection points, which will be included in the evaluation of the qualification for the Olympic Games, and the points of the runner-up and third place will be reduced in turn. Therefore, the main force of national table tennis must not only play well in foreign wars, but also strive to be upstream in civil wars.
Today will be a Grand Slam qualifying tournament, and tomorrow there will be a draw ceremony, represented by Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha of national table tennis. The official competition starts on the 10th. Due to the high world ranking, national table tennis players do not need to participate in the qualifying tournament, and directly wait for the 10th to participate in the main competition. And the qualifying tournament that starts today also has players to keep an eye on, and that is Japan's Yuya Uda and Yuta Tanaka. Let's look forward to it