Go Xu Xin, the new penholder representative! I think right now in the world Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Xu Xin are all approximately as strong as each other although all have clear strengths and weaknesses still (relatively speaking given their exceptional level of play). In fact even amongst the rest it's not a big surprise when any player beats any other including the three big names. Although Hao Shuai, Zhou Yu, Yan An etc have lower world rankings they are really not much weaker and on a good day they can beat anyone. I guess consistency is what the trainers want to see, day in and day out.
I believe actually it would be a big pity not have at least one chinese penholder in the world championships. Amongst the top 10 and at a amateur level there are of course much more shakehand players but still not to have at least one top 10 ranked penholder like Xu Xin, Wang Hao or Ma Lin would be a bit strange I think. It also makes the sport much more interesting in my opinion. So go Xu Xin, show the world your fantastic footwork, incredible forehand and newly improved RPB!!!
. I just saved the page with a china proxy and slightly modified it.
