Chinese Trials for World Championships 2017

[Jonathan_]

Seems the players were divided into 3 section of 4 players based on the rankings of the first stage.

Tier 1: Ma Long, Lin Gaoyuan, Xu Xin
Tier 2: Liang Jingkun, Zhou Qihao, Zhou Yu
Tier 3: Xu Chenhao, Yan An, Liu Dingshuo
Tier 4: Fang Bo, Shang Kun, Zhou Kai

Tier 1 vs tier 4 and tier 2 vs tier 3 in each section. Those who got Lin Gaoyuan instead of Ma Long and Xu Xin are obviously fortunate. Would love to see Shang Kun do well here.

 

[edgy]

Those who got Lin Gaoyuan instead of Ma Long and Xu Xin are obviously fortunate.

Not at all considering LGY has wins over XX, FZD, LJK, and ZJK (okay okay, not terribly impressive given his condition) in the trials thus far.

 

[rainneverever]

LGL said today that ZJK may come back to attend the 2017 ITTF-Asian Championships in China this April; he did not mention WTTC. Frankly I think LGL will give ZJK a ticket but I don't think ZJK can ever make to the semi-final.

TBH, if you only follow ZJK's fanpages, most likely you will see biased information. A better way to know more training and personal lives of CNT players if you are really interested is to follow the table tennis journalist of CCTV, Li Wu Jun.

I do not see a clear marketing potential of ZJK so far. His fans increased 10 folds on Weibo after Rio Olympic Games last August which should be a good opportunity for marketing. Since then he has filmed several variety shows and released a single song for fans to download. He shot a commercial with LGL for a smartphone and a web-commercial for a laundry detergent company during the New Year promotion period. He has his personal agent and studio (the laser healing photos above are from his agent). But no TV commercials, no billboard commercials, and no big company involved. Most ZJK's new fans believe it is ZJK who makes people watch table tennis and no other table tennis players reach his level, in terms of records or fame; they do not care about other CNT players and table tennis games. Ironically as I mentioned in my previous post, the marvellous 12 trials are sponsored by Audi, who only sponsors ML. Fangirls of ML, XX, FZD, DN, LSW and so on did go to the stadium to watch games during 2016 China Super League which ZJK did not play at all. I would say if ZJK recovers and continues to play and WIN, he will get better marketing potential. But he has withdrawn too many times after the Olympic Games...

 

[Suga D]

...maybe he will make a history by winning two grand slam titles

How is that different to ZJK and why?

 

[Jonathan_]

Not at all considering LGY has wins over XX, FZD, LJK, and ZJK (okay okay, not terribly impressive given his condition) in the trials thus far.

Which is not nearly enough to make him a player on the same level as the other 2, especially considering these wins were best of 3.

 

[table tennis fans]

The ITTF have confirmed that ZJK will be playing stage 2, unless there has been a further update?

The news of ZJK withdrawal was announced by Coach Liu during the drawing ceremony.

 

[TTFrenzy]

LGL said today that ZJK may come back to attend the 2017 ITTF-Asian Championships in China this April; he did not mention WTTC. Frankly I think LGL will give ZJK a ticket but I don't think ZJK can ever make to the semi-final.

TBH, if you only follow ZJK's fanpages, most likely you will see biased information. A better way to know more training and personal lives of CNT players if you are really interested is to follow the table tennis journalist of CCTV, Li Wu Jun.

I do not see a clear marketing potential of ZJK so far.
His fans increased 10 folds on Weibo after Rio Olympic Games last August which should be a good opportunity for marketing. Since then he has filmed several variety shows and released a single song for fans to download.
He shot a commercial with LGL for a smartphone and a web-commercial for a laundry detergent company during the New Year promotion period. He has his personal agent and studio (the laser healing photos above are from his agent). But no TV commercials, no billboard commercials, and no big company involved. Most ZJK's new fans believe it is ZJK who makes people watch table tennis and no other table tennis players reach his level, in terms of records or fame; they do not care about other CNT players and table tennis games. Ironically as I mentioned in my previous post, the marvellous 12 trials are sponsored by Audi, who only sponsors ML. Fangirls of ML, XX, FZD, DN, LSW and so on did go to the stadium to watch games during 2016 China Super League which ZJK did not play at all. I would say if ZJK recovers and continues to play and WIN, he will get better marketing potential. But he has withdrawn too many times after the Olympic Games...

Hmmmm, I wonder if you can spot it. The CTTSL had far less attendance than the trials. Only in semifinals and finals the stadiums were almost full. I dont consider 500-1000 people (max) in a stadium satisfying attendace in cities with million citizens. TT in china is suffering a slow death since years ago its just that with characters like ZJK it can get more popular again.

zjK had the most weibo followers even before Rio . We all know chinese policies around its athletes, first of all they are soldiers so I highly doubt that ZJK is free to choose what he is going to do with his career.

Please dont tell me that LGL said "its up to him" cause its a lie, LGL will tell in media what people want to hear. Wang hao didnt want to retire he said it many times yet he was somehow "retired"

p.s. For your information, I have a brother living in china suzhou and get to visit 2 times, so Im not making anything up, I know about chinese mentality/philosophy and authorities first hand. Im not claiming I know better, but I have a good taste

 

[SFF_lib]

When xu xin, ma Long, Zhang Jike retire... (which will be similar timing with Fang Bo, Yan An and Zhou Yu a bit after..?)
I imagine the top 4 it will be something like
1. FZD (I would predict he'll probably have a longer reign than Ma Long...)
2. Lin Gaoyan
2. Liang JingKun (though he needs to up his psychology)
4. zhou Kai (?)
Tbh, I also hope Xue Fei can make it up there, atm I can't see it happening but Penholders are slowly nourished, so who knows...
what do you guys think?

Xue Fei had a chance to be famous during the junior championship final. But again his inconsistency of BH was exposed, same as XX. Xue Fei's powerful FH loop just can't make up for a lack of BH.

Who knows. Wang Hao in 2004 had very weak BH too that was partially why he lost to RSM. So Xue Fei being younger than FZD still has a chance.

I am surprised to see LGY's 3rd ball attack won him quite a few points. Even ML and XX gave poor return to LGY's serve.

 

[SFF_lib]

What bothers me is how one dimensional FZD plays. He obviously has a great touch, but if you look at Ma Long he plays way more diverse with spin variations. Fan's goal seems to outpower his opponents rather than outsmart them. we will see how his development goes, it took Ma Long 25 years to be the complete player he is right now.

Unfortunately the plastic ball force the new players to play like that.

 

[SFF_lib]

Not at all considering LGY has wins over XX, FZD, LJK, and ZJK (okay okay, not terribly impressive given his condition) in the trials thus far.

I am XX fan but have to say LGY has that desperate look in his eyes (similar to RSM). You can see LGY will just give all he has in stage 2 as he doesn't have the mental burden of the top 4. He is very aggressive and dangerous.

 

[MoeinTTseif11]

 

[Trismegistus]

How is that different to ZJK and why?

At the risk of stating the obvious, Fan Zhendong winning a double grand slam would be history-making and different from ZJK because no one, including ZJK, has ever won a double grand slam. In addition, it is unlikely that any of the current gen players (Ma Long, XX, ZJK) will be able to do so at this point because of their ages and the fact that its' another 3+ years to the next olympics. So FZD would be the obvious candidate to do so.

 

[Zaid323918]

Fan Zhendong and Liu Shuwen have got their tickets to Dusseldrof

 

[alexgreen]

Hmmmm, I wonder if you can spot it. The CTTSL had far less attendance than the trials. Only in semifinals and finals the stadiums were almost full. I dont consider 500-1000 people (max) in a stadium satisfying attendace in cities with million citizens. TT in china is suffering a slow death since years ago its just that with characters like ZJK it can get more popular again.

zjK had the most weibo followers even before Rio . We all know chinese policies around its athletes, first of all they are soldiers so I highly doubt that ZJK is free to choose what he is going to do with his career.

Please dont tell me that LGL said "its up to him" cause its a lie, LGL will tell in media what people want to hear. Wang hao didnt want to retire he said it many times yet he was somehow "retired"

p.s. For your information, I have a brother living in china suzhou and get to visit 2 times, so Im not making anything up, I know about chinese mentality/philosophy and authorities first hand. Im not claiming I know better, but I have a good taste

The athletes are not soldiers. Don't know how you got that into your head.

 

[TTFrenzy]

The athletes are not soldiers. Don't know how you got that into your head.

Actually they are. They even stand attention and coaches have military ranks.

ofc i dont mean soldiers like in a battlefield or with regular army training. but military philosophy applies in discipline and behavior aspects.

punishments etc are also a part.

PLA for example "people's liberation army" the team of wang hao and fan zhendong is actually the military force of china (pla has other teams in sports also and participates in chinese national games every 4 years) . If Im not mistaken LGL also served there as a player

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Liberation_Army

 

[Garrison]

Hmmmm, I wonder if you can spot it. The CTTSL had far less attendance than the trials. Only in semifinals and finals the stadiums were almost full. I dont consider 500-1000 people (max) in a stadium satisfying attendace in cities with million citizens. TT in china is suffering a slow death since years ago its just that with characters like ZJK it can get more popular again.

Does anybody have numbers to back it up that the numbers in china are actually decreasing? As far as I know table tennis has always been more of a sport that everyone play without being involved or having real interest in the pro scene. If we look at football for example in 2016 Beijing Guoan has a stadium with 66k capacity yet only 36.500 attendances (which is less than in 2015) while they say football is becoming huge in China.

 

[TTFrenzy]

Does anybody have numbers to back it up that the numbers in china are actually decreasing? As far as I know table tennis has always been more of a sport that everyone play without being involved or having real interest in the pro scene. If we look at football for example in 2016 Beijing Guoan has a stadium with 66k capacity yet only 36.500 attendances (which is less than in 2015) while they say football is becoming huge in China.

Well it depends on what era do you compare it to. In the 90's 00's there was a table tennis frenzy (lol) across the world because sweden belgium germany korea france could cope up with china, so the chinese had great interest in watching TT games.

In malaisia WTTTC 2000 the stadium was full they didnt need a sponsor to bring all the spectators and all of them being chinese. in wttc 2016 the stadium was almost empty except in the final

 

[TTLondon2012]

Fan Zhendong vs Xu Xin

 

[xuxinpower]

anyone knows wether stage 2 will still be bo3 or did they change it to bo5 or even bo7 ?

 

[Ilia Minkin]

The athletes are not soldiers. Don't know how you got that into your head.

In a Western democratic country of course they are not. But somewhere else on Earth...