Road to Tokyo 2020: Chinese TT Team

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In the remote interview released on May 24, Ishikawa listed the following 3 matches as most unforgettable.

1st one for her greatest comeback.
https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13386560

2nd one for playing in her hometown Yamaguchi city.
https://tleague.jp/match/20200211w01

3rd one for withstanding the pressure to medal.
https://youtu.be/M2bSd7jAiZ8?t=12420


Of all the matches, I thought she'd have picked those that were more significant to her growth. This more or less reflects my personal opinion of my idol.
 
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In a recent remote interview around May 17th, Ito picked the following 3 matches as most unforgettable.

The 1st one for realizing that missing could become the key to winning after this and this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oGN6-65N8I

The 2nd one for "getting nervous" in a match for the very first time, right before her serve at 10:8 in the 5th when the whole crowd fell silent. Her mental strength grew after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbV_I9Mvhxg

The 3rd one for knowing that she's gained strength in play and mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4xmUzAO5Ug

In another interview around May 8th, she said CM could "hit the deepest part of her heart, and her coach Ma Lin is outstanding. There is still some gap in strength."

When a player is asked about his or her most memorable match, the natural or common response would be a match he or she has won. This seems to be the case in most of the interviews I've watched or read such as those on Ask A Pro Anything. It's so much easier to hold on to the memories of victory than that of defeat. If ever that player considers a loss to be his or her most memorable match, it's probably a match where he or she still managed to play very well despite losing against a top-ranked player. It's quite interesting that of all the matches Ito could have picked as most memorable, two of the matches she picked were losses while the other one was a match she struggled in.
 
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Chinese media just published rankings of top 20 active athletes worldwide with most market values.
721C1511-7CC6-4C94-AF15-1260DAD5B2CA.jpg

Among them are five CNT players: #11 XX, #12 LSW, #14 FZD, #15 ZJK, and #16 DN. ML is not even in the list which doesn’t make any sense.

Ranking for Chinese athletes only:
481FF1B0-AFA8-4085-9938-128306810D91.jpg
Four CNT players are in the top ten: #4 XX, #5 LSW, #6 FZD, and #7 DN.
 
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Chinese media just published rankings of top 20 active athletes worldwide with most market values.
View attachment 21431

Among them are five CNT players: #11 XX, #12 LSW, #14 FZD, #15 ZJK, and #16 DN. ML is not even in the list which doesn’t make any sense.

Ranking for Chinese athletes only:
View attachment 21432
Four CNT players are in the top ten: #4 XX, #5 LSW, #6 FZD, and #7 DN.

hurmm, no ML as your reigning defending undisputed Olympic and World Champ huh..Makes no sense indeed
 
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When a player is asked about his or her most memorable match, the natural or common response would be a match he or she has won. This seems to be the case in most of the interviews I've watched or read such as those on Ask A Pro Anything. It's so much easier to hold on to the memories of victory than that of defeat. If ever that player considers a loss to be his or her most memorable match, it's probably a match where he or she still managed to play very well despite losing against a top-ranked player. It's quite interesting that of all the matches Ito could have picked as most memorable, two of the matches she picked were losses while the other one was a match she struggled in.

Yes. Various players have said they can't stand playing back the matches they lost. Mizutani would vanish from sight for an extended period and try to forget his losses ASAP; LXX would toss the computer across the room when reviewing matches she lost; it took DN years to play through the London 2012 singles final bit by bit; Harimoto said it was a pain to go over the match against JYS at WTTC 2018...

OTOH, Ito mentioned in that interview that she's improved this much in the past year thanks to SYS and the same is true for SYS, because they're the same age, which gets her very motivated in this "nice rivalry." That's similar to Waldner saying he thanked Appelgren for beating him.
 
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Adam’s interview with Steve, ITTF CEO. At 39:23, Steve talks about who would play Olympic singles for CNT.

Borow raised his brow after hearing Steve's predictions because his favourite "Queen of Hearts" wasn't chosen. Totally made my day.

On a side note, I read that Yoshihito Miyazaki recently voiced his thoughts about the CNT possibly changing up their Olympics lineup (seems like JTTA was quite confident that the trio would be DN, LSW & CM previously) to include SYS (replacing DN). More interestingly, he allegedly referenced the need for the JNT to not only study this trio/quartet but also Ma Lin. The reason being that since LSW and CM are both hot favourites, their coach Ma Lin will undoubtedly be a core member of the Tokyo Olympics team as well.
 
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Borow raised his brow after hearing Steve's predictions because his favourite "Queen of Hearts" wasn't chosen. Totally made my day.

On a side note, I read that Yoshihito Miyazaki recently voiced his thoughts about the CNT possibly changing up their Olympics lineup (seems like JTTA was quite confident that the trio would be DN, LSW & CM previously) to include SYS (replacing DN). More interestingly, he allegedly referenced the need for the JNT to not only study this trio/quartet but also Ma Lin. The reason being that since LSW and CM are both hot favourites, their coach Ma Lin will undoubtedly be a core member of the Tokyo Olympics team as well.
Adam asked about singles specifically. Mima Ito crushed DN the last time they played. I do think DN will play the teams event unless father time forces her to quit.
 
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CNT conducted another round of internal trials to boost the players' competitiveness.

Men – Team Event

1st – Ma Long, Wang Chuqin, Fang Bo
2nd – Xu Xin, Liang Jingkun, Xu Haidong
3rd – Lin Gaoyuan, Xu Chenhao, Zhou Yu, Zhao Zihao
4th – Fan Zhendong, Zhou Qihao, Yan An, Xiang Peng

Women – Doubles

1st – Gu Yuting/Chen Xingtong
2nd – Ding Ning/Zhu Yuling
3rd – Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu (they have literally not won anything since the WTTC)
4th – Wang Yidi/Sun Mingyang
5th – Qian Tianyi/Zhang Rui
6th – He Zhuojia/Liu Fei

LSW and CM sat out of the competition (latter was photographed but not the former).
 
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CNT conducted another round of internal trials to boost the players' competitiveness.

Men – Team Event

1st – Ma Long, Wang Chuqin, Fang Bo
2nd – Xu Xin, Liang Jingkun, Xu Haidong
3rd – Lin Gaoyuan, Xu Chenhao, Zhou Yu, Zhao Zihao
4th – Fan Zhendong, Zhou Qihao, Yan An, Xiang Peng

Women – Doubles

1st – Gu Yuting/Chen Xingtong
2nd – Ding Ning/Zhu Yuling
3rd – Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu (they have literally not won anything since the WTTC)
4th – Wang Yidi/Sun Mingyang
5th – Qian Tianyi/Zhang Rui
6th – He Zhuojia/Liu Fei

LSW and CM sat out of the competition (latter was photographed but not the former).

How much do these results mean for Tokyo 2021 selection?

It's all behind closed doors and no trophy's or Medals handed out. If say Xu Haidong has a flawless record in these friendly games without any tournaments on ITTF getting played, do CNT select him?

Lot of people on the forums seem to think the coaches already have the teams selected for Tokyo 2021.
 
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Wells, seems like LSW is not recovering as smoothly as hoped. Wouldn't discount her yet since the Olympics is still a long time away but if CNT does try a new pairing (no DN/FZD again please), perhaps it's a sign that LSW's injuries are rather serious.
 
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Wells, seems like LSW is not recovering as smoothly as hoped. Wouldn't discount her yet since the Olympics is still a long time away but if CNT does try a new pairing (no DN/FZD again please), perhaps it's a sign that LSW's injuries are rather serious.

I actually just rewatched the last two encounters between Mima and LSW today. Mima managed to beat LSW from behind in both matches - 3:2 from 1:2 in 2018 World Cup team finals and 4:3 from 1:3 in 2018 Sweden Open final. I’m starting to doubt if LGL will pick LSW for singles if she can’t beat Mima prior to the decision timenext year. Another thing that’s Not going LSW’s way is that next years WTTC will likely not be canceled. Anything less than gold for LSW will dramatically diminish the value of her 2019 WTTC singles champion.
 
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I actually just rewatched the last two encounters between Mima and LSW today. Mima managed to beat LSW from behind in both matches - 3:2 from 1:2 in 2018 World Cup team finals and 4:3 from 1:3 in 2018 Sweden Open final. I’m starting to doubt if LGL will pick LSW for singles if she can’t beat Mima prior to the decision timenext year. Another thing that’s Not going LSW’s way is that next years WTTC will likely not be canceled. Anything less than gold for LSW will dramatically diminish the value of her 2018 WTTC singles champion.

I was mainly talking about XD since she has already gotten that spot formally and what it means if her injuries persist. Of course that will have implications for Singles selection as well but 1 year is a long time away so I wouldn't bother too much about it at the moment.

On the two 2018 losses to Ito, I'm sure they have an impact of sorts on how the coaches evaluate LSW's suitability for Singles but I don't give them that much weightage (esp. not Swedish Open).
 
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How much do these results mean for Tokyo 2021 selection?

It's all behind closed doors and no trophy's or Medals handed out. If say Xu Haidong has a flawless record in these friendly games without any tournaments on ITTF getting played, do CNT select him?

Lot of people on the forums seem to think the coaches already have the teams selected for Tokyo 2021.

Practically no bearing.

Internal trials have never been a thing for CNT when it comes to Olympics. Even JNT doesn't do it, for obvious reasons. It goes to show why both use that to determine only 1 spot for the WTTC.

spo1903020055-p3.jpg


The only time CNT went with a deathmatch behind closed doors for the Olympics was when determining the last doubles pair for Athens 2004, between WLQ/YS(MD gold medalists in Sydney 2000) and MLin/CQ(MD gold medalists in Athens 2004). The other pair of KLH/WH eventually lost to Waldner/Persson in round 3(round 1 of main draw). The event that ultimately led to the deathmatch was a car accident in which Yan Sen's right wrist was shattered in October, 2003.

http://zqb.cyol.com/content/2008-08/19/content_2318876.htm
2004年,雅典奥运会的备战进入冲刺阶段。中国队三对男双:孔令辉/王皓,王励勤/阎森,马琳/陈玘",为两张奥运门票进行着激烈的竞争。教练组首先确定了孔令辉/王皓的参赛资格。

以何种方式决定另两对选手的命运,直至最后一刻,仍然是个谜。

马琳依然清晰记得那晚的情景:晚上9时多,他和陈王已在宾馆的房间里紧张地呆着。蔡振华突然把队员们叫到了一起,问他们同不同意打一场生死战。“不打的话,选择权就在教练和领导的手中;如果打的话,你们两对谁胜出,谁就参加奥运会双打比赛。”

4名选手都没犹豫,是生是死,他们留给自己来决定。

训练局乒乓球馆中的“生死战”不曾有一家媒体见证,也没有任何影像资料。然而从马琳的回忆中,仍然可以嗅到“血腥”的气息。

那天,偌大场地内没有任何观众,到场的仅仅是两对参赛选手,由蔡振华出任裁判,刘国梁翻记分牌,空荡荡的训练馆中空气几乎凝固,这明明不是奥运会,但是比奥运会更残酷。

马琳最终赢下了比赛,他说,“如果要找一句话形容我当时的心情,只能是从地狱到天堂!”

Ironically, LGL revealed at Marvelous 12 2017 that the tradition of internal trials for WTTC started in 2006 because of WLQ, MLin and WH.

https://sports.qq.com/a/20170303/032634.htm
腾讯体育讯 北京时间3月3日,2017年“地表最强12人(The Marvellous12)”战在深圳拉开大幕。赛前,国乒总教练刘国梁带上弟子“二王一马”对整个比赛进行了展望。刘国梁说:“今天我为什么一定要带二王一马来呢,因为直通赛就是因他们而起,他们是现在国乒主力的师哥,他们是直通赛前十年的绝对主角。”马琳展望本次“地表最强12人”战时说:“我觉得这个气氛这个氛围,像是在打世乒赛、奥运会。”

As for team selections, the roster has been trimmed down to these 4 - LSW, DN, CM, and SYS. As ZYL told, Tokyo 2020 is none of her business already. WMY is out as well after WTTC 2019. Same as for LJK, beating your teammates doesn't get you any pluses. Losing 1 foreign battle in the major gets you a shitload of minuses.

Even Ito has spoken in an interview a month or 2 ago that CM and SYS will fight for 1 singles spot by trying to beat her as much as possible. Miyazaki has also spoken recently there's a chance the mere existence of Ito will force CNT to change the singles lineup.
 
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Even Ito has spoken in an interview a month or 2 ago that CM and SYS will fight for 1 singles spot by trying to beat her as much as possible. Miyazaki has also spoken recently there's a chance the mere existence of Ito will force CNT to change the singles lineup.

Do you happen to know why they were reviewing the Rio trio (LXX, DN, LSW) instead of the Tokyo candidates? https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7mDcpZ4nKGk1hqaH2p1VFZaM4KvdGgrs&time_continue=3&v=BmqYjHMxIj8

Seems like Ito thinks that LXX is the most imposing, DN most stable and LSW possessing the best techniques? I can't say for sure since I don't actually know Japanese.
 
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Those 2 are the fan-selected matches that have left them most impressed. That's more or less how she felt about those 3.

OTOH, my idol went with her "best match" as always.
 
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In the remote interview released on May 24, Ishikawa listed the following 3 matches as most unforgettable.

1st one for her greatest comeback.
https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13386560

<snip> my idol.

:p:rolleyes:
I see, so that's what she's been doing all this time against CNT! She's getting ready for this to happen again.
When she's down 3-11 5-11 2-11 2-9... quick squirrel nods of the head: "I've got her where I wanted. Now it's my match."
 
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I was mainly talking about XD since she has already gotten that spot formally and what it means if her injuries persist. Of course that will have implications for Singles selection as well but 1 year is a long time away so I wouldn't bother too much about it at the moment.

On the two 2018 losses to Ito, I'm sure they have an impact of sorts on how the coaches evaluate LSW's suitability for Singles but I don't give them that much weightage (esp. not Swedish Open).

What is LSW injury? Seen clips of her training

SYS won a mixed doubles title with XX, that seems like a good plan B
SYS also good option for Singles too.
 
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What is LSW injury? Seen clips of her training

SYS won a mixed doubles title with XX, that seems like a good plan B
SYS also good option for Singles too.

She has an elbow/forearm injury that keeps flaring up after months of non-invasive treatment, since the commencement of German Open. Unsure if the success of those treatments were partially marred by her (or coaches') insistence to continue training, hence those "clips" that you have seen. Rumour has it that she's been back at Guangdong for about a week or two now, presumably to seek further treatment or break away from training to speed up the healing process. Nevertheless, the players will all return to their own provincial teams soon and regroup in July.

 
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