China Smash 2025

[NextLevel]

Been in the CNT for so many years just shows he is tremendously talented (speed, quickness, let alone unique great backhand, traits natural and hard to train), no one can deny that. Talent alone doesn't define greatness, but overall achievement does, for Chinese, which is big stage international competitions. Compared to his teammates of similar talent level, he falls really short. Worse, people usually remember his big game failures, which he has plenty, that's just part of human nature.
Compare him to a Chinese legend LGL, (speed, and great serve), I can say LGY is more talented. Achievement? not even close.
After a few well known mental breakdowns in big games against non-Chinese, usually very unforgiving Chinese coaches showed extraordinary patience and kept him in the roster and continued giving him opportunity after opportunity. One of reasons is the rare talent they saw in him. It's hard to give up someone that talented.

But, it's the time he has finally spotted the sunset.

No one I know ever commented on his talent as why they gave him an opportunity. LGL always claimed multiple times that LGY was the hardest working player on the team. In fact, his break through in the Marvelous 12 trials for the 2017 WTTC was described as the success of hard work and perseverance. When you are an outsider looking at results, it is very easy to miss what the persistence and discipline of someone like Lin Gaoyuan brings to the team. Such things don't count with outsiders who just cheer the winners, but they are very helpful to coaches trying to keep players in line on team discipline.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Remember LGY is in the top tier Chinese team for many years. The Judging criterion for Chinese is different and unique. H2H winning just means he is high level player and very talented. To be a great for Chinese, you need medals, medals heavy and many.
To be clear, when I say LGY is an excellent player but not a great player, I am comparing him in Chinese standard. I have no issue if you regard him as a great player comparing to all players, Chinese or non-Chinese.
The players you listed above LGY faced, all(maybe minus Niwa) have achieved far better career results than LGY even though LGY's raw talent is second to none of them.

I don't think anyone will disagree with you that LGY is not an all-time Chinese great but that wasn't how your initial comment read to me.

I respect your opinion, but I find it borderline disrespectful calling FB's international performance better than LGY's because of one single magical tournament run in 2015 that ended only as a runner-up.

Another reason that the Chinese team kept him on over Fang Bo could be because LGY wiped him each of the 3 times they met 4-1, 4-0, and 4-2.

As for LGY's raw talent being second to none of Mizutani, Niwa, Boll and FZD... couldn't disagree more, but I am biased by hearing the direct opposite from many people who have trained with, played against, or been around all of those guys.

 

[rpb23]

No one I know ever commented on his talent as why they gave him an opportunity. LGL always claimed multiple times that LGY was the hardest working player on the team. In fact, his break through in the Marvelous 12 trials for the 2017 WTTC was described as the success of hard work and perseverance. When you are an outsider looking at results, it is very easy to miss what the persistence and discipline of someone like Lin Gaoyuan brings to the team. Such things don't count with outsiders who just cheer the winners, but they are very helpful to coaches trying to keep players in line on team discipline.

To coaches, raw talent is not hard to spot. The speed, the quickness, the bouncing footwork, the close table backhand loop swing to wide angle and down the line at will, is all you need to see a player's talent and ability.

Hard work? At national team level, this is a given. At pro level, between hard work and raw talent, most coaches absolutely pick the talent. Simply because hark work can be pushed, motivated(like LGL did) but raw latent is either you have it or not, and hard to come by.

To be honest, LGY immediately caught my eyes the first time I saw him play. He was just so fast, so dynamic, so full of energy, man, that monster backhand! A raw talent is undeniable.

 

[NextLevel]

To coaches, raw talent is not hard to spot. The speed, the quickness, the bouncing footwork, the close table backhand loop swing to wide angle and down the line at will, is all you need to see a player's talent and ability.

Hard work? At national team level, this is a given. At pro level, between hard work and raw talent, most coaches absolutely pick the talent. Simply because hark work can be pushed, motivated(like LGL did) but raw latent is either you have it or not, and hard to come by.

To be honest, LGY immediately caught my eyes the first time I saw him play. He was just so fast, so dynamic, so full of energy, man, that monster backhand! A raw talent is undeniable.

I am not making this up, I am quoting what happened in 2017. Even in prior trials, LGY was consistently lauded for his effort. You are the one talking about talent, LGY climbed up the pole slowly, he was already outstripped on the talent pole by FZD. Even when he was in the middle of the pack in the 2016 Olympic trials that were dominated by ML, ZJK, XX and FZD, what LGL used to talk about was how much LGY trained to get better. That he won the second spot in 2017 to join those four in the 2017 WTTC was billed as the reward for consistent effort. I am sure Zeio can find the quotes if he was so inclined.

LGY lost multiple times in the WJTTC singles final. What he was remembered for was perseverance.

 

[NextLevel]

I don't think anyone will disagree with you that LGY is not an all-time Chinese great but that wasn't how your initial comment read to me.

I respect your opinion, but I find it borderline disrespectful calling FB's international performance better than LGY's because of one single magical tournament run in 2015 that ended only as a runner-up.

Another reason that the Chinese team kept him on over Fang Bo could be because LGY wiped him each of the 3 times they met 4-1, 4-0, and 4-2.

As for LGY's raw talent being second to none of Mizutani, Niwa, Boll and FZD... couldn't disagree more, but I am biased by hearing the direct opposite from many people who have trained with, played against, or been around all of those guys.

He is still consistently defeating the Xiang Pengs, Xue Feis, Xu Yingbins etc.

And yes, everything I have heard is that all those players you listed are some of the most insane natural talents the game has ever seen. In fact, this is the first time I am hearing someone spotlight LGY as a great natural talent, everyone knows he is relatively fast, but he has been generally described as lacking power and stability.

 

[dingyibvs]

I am not making this up, I am quoting what happened in 2017. Even in prior trials, LGY was consistently lauded for his effort. You are the one talking about talent, LGY climbed up the pole slowly, he was already outstripped on the talent pole by FZD. Even when he was in the middle of the pack in the 2016 Olympic trials that were dominated by ML, ZJK, XX and FZD, what LGL used to talk about was how much LGY trained to get better. That he won the second spot in 2017 to join those four in the 2017 WTTC was billed as the reward for consistent effort. I am sure Zeio can find the quotes if he was so inclined.

LGY lost multiple times in the WJTTC singles final. What he was remembered for was perseverance.

Yea, after watching him as a junior I didn't think he had what it takes to stick around in the CNT. I was wrong and hats off to LGY for sticking it out and persevering to become a CNT perennial.

 

[shmek]

And as we're talking policies/politics, have you guys noticed how Truls got Infinity Arena over LJK tomorrow? I understand that he is loved in China and all, but to be favoured over one of their own?! Is there anything else to it?

 

[blahness]

I agree. He had so much success as a junior with his junior style that he never was forced to mature and evolve. His style has always been a rally style. When he is hot, he can feel like a wall like how he played FZD at the Olympics.

But he also gives his opponent many chances to attack or counter-attack.
He hasn't really been able to re-invent his forehand in these years.

Nah his FH really improved a lot over the past years. His issue sometimes is that he always defaults to spin the ball more rather than looping through it.

It is a weird habit which basically originated from when he was losing to Ma Long and Fan Zhendong due to a lack of consistency (he was hitting through the ball a lot more back then), then he switched to this 'safe' style which imo is going the wrong way (correct way would be to have a mix of both). This become even worse with the new ball where counterloops against slow spinny loops have become so much higher percentage shots. The problem also is that Harimoto's slow loop is not varied enough to cause opponents problem in reading the spin.

Especially against lefties, one of the most common losing patterns that Harimoto does is to FH slow loop to the lefty backhand and it gets blasted to his wide FH which basically is a point ending shot. If he had simply powerlooped it, he would probably have won a lot of those points.

Weird thing is that Togami almost exclusively hits through the ball lol and has the opposite problem of Harimoto.

 

[blahness]

Yea, after watching him as a junior I didn't think he had what it takes to stick around in the CNT. I was wrong and hats off to LGY for sticking it out and persevering to become a CNT perennial.

LGY's FH has some technical issues because he defaults to curving around the ball which leads to less power (but weirder sidespin curves). He compensated for it by smart tactics and lefty angles, but eventually everyone was exploiting these weaknesses.

But yeah, to say he is not a successful player (seeing some commentary here like that) is crazy, he is literally at the top 0.001% of human performance, and that is always something to admire regardless.

 

[joshmak10]

Streets don’t forget 2018-19 WR2 LGY 😮‍💨

Shoutout to 2023 LGY too

 

[FIXPOINT]

Scheduled Matches
All times are local time.
Live streaming https://www.youtube.com/wttglobal

Thu, 2nd Oct 2025
11:00 T1 MD QF YUAN(CHN)/XU(CHN) - LIN(CHN)/WANG(CHN)
11:00 T2 WD QF KUAI(CHN)/WANG(CHN) - NAGASAKI(JPN)/SHIN(KOR)
11:35 T1 WS R16 CHEN Xingtong(CHN) - LI Yu-Jhun(TPE)
11:35 T2 MS R16 Felix LEBRUN(FRA) - Eduard IONESCU(ROU)
11:35 T4 MD QF QUEK(SGP)/PANG(SGP) - HUANG(CHN)/WEN(CHN)
12:10 T1 MS R16 Truls MOREGARD(SWE) - Yukiya UDA(JPN)
12:10 T2 MS R16 Sora MATSUSHIMA(JPN) - LIANG Jingkun(CHN)
12:10 T3 WD QF SAWETTABUT(THA)/PARANANG(THA) - HAYATA(JPN)/JOO(KOR)
12:45 T1 WS R16 SUN Yingsha(CHN) - WANG Xiaotong(CHN)
12:45 T2 WS R16 Miwa HARIMOTO(JPN) - Satsuki ODO(JPN)
12:45 T4 MD QF ZHOU(CHN)/CHEN(CHN) - SHAH(IND)/THAKKAR(IND)
13:20 T1 MS R16 Kristian KARLSSON(SWE) - LIN Shidong(CHN)
13:20 T2 WS R16 SHIN Yubin(KOR) - KUAI Man(CHN)
13:55 T1 XD SF YUAN(CHN)/WANG(CHN) - HUANG(CHN)/CHEN(CHN)
18:00 T1 WD QF CHEN(CHN)/QIAN(CHN) - SAMARA(ROU)/SZOCS(ROU)
18:00 T2 MD QF LEBRUN(FRA)/LEBRUN(FRA) - MATSUSHIMA(JPN)/TOGAMI(JPN)
18:00 T3 WD QF KAUFMANN(GER)/LIU(AUS) - WANG(CHN)/XU(CHN)
18:35 T1 MS R16 WANG Chuqin(CHN) - AN Jaehyun(KOR)
18:35 T2 MS R16 Hugo CALDERANO(BRA) - ZHOU Qihao(CHN)
19:10 T1 WS R16 CHEN Yi(CHN) - ZHU Yuling(MAC)
19:10 T2 WS R16 JOO Cheonhui(KOR) - SHI Xunyao(CHN)
19:45 T1 MS R16 XIANG Peng(CHN) - Flavien COTON(FRA)
19:45 T2 MS R16 Kazuki HAMADA(JPN) - CHEN Junsong(CHN)
20:20 T1 WS R16 Hina HAYATA(JPN) - WANG Manyu(CHN)
20:20 T2 WS R16 Honoka HASHIMOTO(JPN) - WANG Yidi(CHN)
20:55 T1 XD SF WANG(CHN)/SUN(CHN) - CALDERANO(BRA)/TAKAHASHI(BRA)

 

[I Love Anders Lind]

Career wise, it's hard to describe LGY as a great player. A player with lightening fast speed and unique great backhand but with fragile mental strength and lackluster international performance, coupled with the high expectation on him and the numerous opportunity Chinese coaches gave him, he really is a underachiever.

unfortunately...yeah, he hasnt been the best results wwis

but as a person off court? hes up there with the likes of boll. id always have a soft spot for him

 

[I Love Anders Lind]

Career wise, it's hard to describe LGY as a great player. A player with lightening fast speed and unique great backhand but with fragile mental strength and lackluster international performance, coupled with the high expectation on him and the numerous opportunity Chinese coaches gave him, he really is a underachiever.

his 3-4 reversal by ma long showed just how hard it is for a guy not blessed with the best physique or talent to achieve greatness

 

[ThePongCommenter]

LGY's FH has some technical issues because he defaults to curving around the ball which leads to less power (but weirder sidespin curves). He compensated for it by smart tactics and lefty angles, but eventually everyone was exploiting these weaknesses.

But yeah, to say he is not a successful player (seeing some commentary here like that) is crazy, he is literally at the top 0.001% of human performance, and that is always something to admire regardless.

He's not compensating for the hooking shots with tactics and angles, that's part of the plan.

 

[I Love Anders Lind]

Remember LGY is in the top tier Chinese team for many years. The Judging criterion for Chinese is different and unique. H2H winning just means he is high level player and very talented. To be a great for Chinese, you need medals, medals heavy and many.
To be clear, when I say LGY is an excellent player but not a great player, I am comparing him in Chinese standard. I have no issue if you regard him as a great player comparing to all players, Chinese or non-Chinese.
The players you listed above LGY faced, all(maybe minus Niwa) have achieved far better career results than LGY even though LGY's raw talent is second to none of them.

not so sure about that. lgy is actually not naturally talented; wu jingping (fzd's coach) said so himself. he didnt rate him at all as a junior

hes not a natural leftie and forced himself to play that style to have a shot in the team

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Young master Sora Matsushima goes beast mode on LJK to take it 3-2, 11-8 !

 

[zeio]

MS R16
Matsushima 3-2 LJK (4, -9, 8, -8, 8)
Matsushima did a ML backroll...
LJK's back injury looks quite serious. Still couldn't move well.

梁靖崑：林高远这么多年不容易 自身伤病正在恢复中
https://www.sohu.com/a/940545960_114977

MS R16
Moregard (5) 1-3 Uda (-9, -6, 7, -3)
G1 72, 88, 98, 911
G2 07, 27, 28, 58 TO for Uda, 59, 69, 611
G3 20, 21 Moregard served off the table a 2nd time, 31, 32, 42, 43, 63, 65 TO for Moregard, 105, 107, 117
G4 04, 15, 25, 27 big net for Uda, 28, 38, 311
Moregard got owned as expected. Harimoto is right about him losing left and right... His strokes (counterloops, BH etc.) are really trash, if not for his technical ability...

Flags getting raised. Not a good sign.

赢了瑞满以后，小莫终于开始认真打wtt了 (After winning Sweden Smash, Little Mo is finally getting serious about playing WTT)
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10071122374

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

its funny when Chinese players loose, then its okay to talk about injuries and how tough they are carrying such injuries.

frankly speaking - due to the scheduling, where its "okay" for you to be absent - but need to face the repercussion of ranking drop, players play on, until they really can't. Its only a matter of time where the pain outrun your pain tolerance threshold.

I don't wish for pain and injuries, but if only wcq and sys get injured from scheduling, maybe then, ctta will force more changes.

Goda playing with pain, but she won't be talked about.

 

[Catenaccio]

@mikeytt Uda did it again! Usually, the toughest match is after you scored a big upset, but there were no signs of that today.

MS R16
Yukiya Uda vs Truls Moregard 3-1 (9,6,-7,3)

 

[kindof99]

Uda is on a break