Zhang Jike comes out of retirement for 1 match today! With a twist!

Amazing new fan based interactive match played between Hou Yingchao and one of the greatest players of all time Zhang Jike!

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After the official announcement of a "Premier League Challenge" between Zhang Jike and Hou Yingchao by zhibo.tv, it attracted extensive attention from the media and table tennis fans. At a time when the virus epidemic has caused global sports events are suspended, the match between the Grand Slam champion Zhang Jike and the 2019 China men's singles champion Hou this “Premier League Challenge” undoubtedly becomes the most important event.

In order to make the competition more enjoyable and meet the broadcast needs, the concept of "limited time" is added just like in T2. However,
Zhang Jike and Hou, also put forward a number of modifications and suggestions.

Rules:
The challenge finally determined a new competition system of "snatching points in limited time": the competition will be divided into three sections, each section of the competition is limited to 10 minutes, and the points of three sections of the competition will be accumulated. If the third quarter of the competition is less than 10 minutes, and the score of one player reaches 35 points in advance, the competition is declared over, and the player who reaches 35 points first wins. If the third quarter is played for 10 minutes and the two sides are not even, the one with more points wins.

The new competition system is different, the score of each section is related to the final victory and defeat, so every point will be contested, and the suspense of the game is greater.

With the change of the new competition system, fans will be more involved in the competition and interact with the players.
In this competition, the rights of the players to towel down and replenish water will be decided by the online users who watch the live broadcast: for example, before the competition starts, the umpire will take the lead in opening the "task" of whether the players have the right to a towel break adjustment in the competition, and the online users will vote by means of voting.
Similarly, during the rest time between sets, whether the athletes of both sides can replenish water and adjust their status is still decided by online users. This interactive mode really tests the popularity index of players.
In this game, the rights of "time out" has been given to the fans to decide based on a voting system. This will greatly test the fans' ability to judge the game.
Once the time out is called, the designated player will comment on the spot the impact that this time out has had.

Stay tuned as hope to have highlights soon!

It seems that the umpire directed zhang Jike to take the time out but he didnt want to take it!!!

Zhang jike won 35 -27

My understanding is that 'Zhibo tv' want to test the popularity of matches broadcast on their website. By allowing fans to interact with the match through voting to enable players to take a time-out for example, in order to try and generate more interest and hype in the game.


ZJK is able to beat Hou Yingchao (who beat Wang Chuqin and Liang Jingkun at the 2019 Chinese Nationals) because he is simply a much more experienced player, his variation, placement and understanding of the game is simply at a higher level that that of his younger Chinese team mates.

A good example of this is the point at 3:19 in the highlights video which shows the change of speed and placement whilst also still being prepared for blocking Hou's fh loops. This aspect seemed to trouble Wang Chuqin and Liang Jinkung more often.

At the end of the match Zhang Jike also stripped off the rubbers and signed his bat for a prize. He also sat down with the presenter for a long discussion which is something that viewers would not normally be able to see.