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You made a lot of good points Carl. However, I feel in this day and age its not really "CNT" Fanboys or "CNT" Fangirls , atleast in table tennis . I think its mostly the fans are loyal to specific players. I will tell you about my personal prefrences , I only care when ZJK plays and want him to win. Even though I respect them for their skills, I don't feel bad if Ma Long or Ding Ning loses , its because I like how he has transcended the immediate culture of the country and the team and has put an individual stamp of his persona and charisma on the world scene.
But when it comes to teams, I end up supporting to dutch women's team or the english men's team , just because they were punching far above their weights in those respective tournaments and managed to express their team bonding qualities during the matches ...
I have grown up supporting Sanchez Vicario whenever she played Steffi Graf , but when it was Federer vs Nadal , I ended up supporting Federer. I did not desert him when he continued to lose those crunch points in grand slams , rather it would ruin my day when he lost but I managed to see most of his losses in semis and finals or grandslams .... but when he came through this year in Australian open after being down in the fifth , I managed to ride the "high" for days after ...
Even though we like to believe its "blind" "fan"-aticism ... especially for fans on the other side , I think the reality its just preference, either we identify with the challenger or the champion based on some thing we admire and it could be something simple as national loyalty ... some times it ends up being the favorite or sometime the challenger , especially when they manage to transcend their sport and inspire us ...
But when it comes to teams, I end up supporting to dutch women's team or the english men's team , just because they were punching far above their weights in those respective tournaments and managed to express their team bonding qualities during the matches ...
I have grown up supporting Sanchez Vicario whenever she played Steffi Graf , but when it was Federer vs Nadal , I ended up supporting Federer. I did not desert him when he continued to lose those crunch points in grand slams , rather it would ruin my day when he lost but I managed to see most of his losses in semis and finals or grandslams .... but when he came through this year in Australian open after being down in the fifth , I managed to ride the "high" for days after ...
Even though we like to believe its "blind" "fan"-aticism ... especially for fans on the other side , I think the reality its just preference, either we identify with the challenger or the champion based on some thing we admire and it could be something simple as national loyalty ... some times it ends up being the favorite or sometime the challenger , especially when they manage to transcend their sport and inspire us ...