CNT released the official team for WTTC 2015!

[fz29888]

The official roster is available now!!

Men's single: Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, Fang Bo, Liang Jinkun( replaced Yan An)

Men's doubles: Zhang Jike/Xu Xin, Ma Long/ Timo Boll (GER), Fan Zhendong/Zhou Yu

Women's Single: Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, Wu Yang (replaced Chen Meng for injury), Mu Zi

Women's doubles: Li Xiaoxia/Ding NIng, Liu Shiwen/Zhu Yuling, Li Xiaodan/ Nanthana Komwong (THA)

Mixed doubles: Xu Xin/ Yang Haeun(KOR), Emmanuel Lebesson(FRA)/ Chen Meng, Yan An(replaced Liang Jinkun)/ Wu Yang.

So Liang Jingkun didn't get the ticket for the single's although he did really well in the trials. I guess because he lost to foreign players several times in the World Tours.
Additionally, Yan An is from the Beijing Provincial team and his father is the head coach of Beijing Women's team. That might help him to get the ticket. And Yan An did really well in the WTTC 2013. I guess that's another factor.

For the women's single, because Mu Zi won a ticket from the trials, either Chen Meng or Wu Yang would lose the chance. It's not surprising that Wu Yang didn't get the chance because Chen Meng is regarded as the future competitor for the Olympics in 2020.

It's interesting and great to see that the Chinese National Team is willing to pair with players from other associations. The other three foreign players are not revealed yet. I'll update when the final roster is available.

 

[chuklebolt]

Ohhh pairing with a Thai player xD

 

[fz29888]

Ohhh pairing with a Thai player xD

Do you have any clue who this player is ?

 

[perniciousnc]

zhou yu just missed the chance of his life. LJK may still have chance later on, but zhou yu just did so bad. Yan an could be pulled down easily in the last trial, but ZY did not seize his chance. ZY's backhand is better than YA's, and that is a necessary criteria for any new gen players, especially for the CNT.I really don't think YA is gonna do much in the future, not only is his BH not perfect, his FH is curled up unlike most of the CNT players.It's a pity that ZY and LJK didn't make it through. Lin Gaoyuen, and Xu chenhao, also got good techniques, but wasted some chances in world tours. I personally don't prefer FB and YA.

 

[dannyreventon]

Oh man, was hoping for a Ma Long - Kasumi Ishikawa pairing. :> <3

 

[fz29888]

Oh man, was hoping for a Ma Long - Kasumi Ishikawa pairing. :> <3

haha, me too! It seems it's not only Chinese fans are looking forward to this pair.

 

[dannyreventon]

haha, me too! It seems it's not only chinese fans are looking forward to this pair.

true that! :d

 

[mahomedy13]

Oh man, was hoping for a Ma Long - Kasumi Ishikawa pairing. :> <3

Especially after the interview where she said that she woulddnt mind pairing with ML

 

[dannyreventon]

Especially after the interview where she said that she woulddnt mind pairing with ML

"wouldn't mind". ha ha ha. I think she really wants to be paired with ma long.

 

[anelo]

Ma Long/ Timo Boll (GER) ?
I think Timo Boll appreciates ... and probably Ma Long too.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Lets guess, how many medals won't be won by China (China/China)?

 

[neklvlmooster]

Ummmmmm lets see, China won't be losing a medal until Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Xu Xin retires.

 

[fz29888]

Lets guess, how many medals won't be won by China (China/China)?

I guess 1 or 2. The gold medal of mixed double will never be won by China/China and Timo has a chance to get his first WTTC gold medal.

 

[fz29888]

Ummmmmm lets see, China won't be losing a medal until Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Xu Xin retires.

Don't forget the young Fan Zhendong

 

[mahomedy13]

Ummmmmm lets see, China won't be losing a medal until Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Xu Xin retires.

I think you are forgetting Fan Zhendong...

 

[neklvlmooster]

Don't forget the young Fan Zhendong

think about it, how can China win World Team Championship with only Fan Zhendong.

 

[fz29888]

think about it, how can China win World Team Championship with only Fan Zhendong.

I don't really think China has to worry too much about the next generation players after the generation of ZJK, ML and XX.
It is not the 20 years ago when China were lack of talent while the rest of the world was really competitive. China has learnt from the history and they have a very well organized system to train and select talented players. With the large population of China, the number of talented kids and experienced coaches are much more than rest of the world. The kids in the Chinese system are trained very hard, so China has a poll of good players to select. This contributes to the dominance of China in this sports. We see the Ma Lin, Wang Liqin and Wang Hao after the generation of Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui retired. And we have the Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Xu Xin after "two Wangs and one Ma". Now we see Fan Zhendong is really challenging ZJK, ML and XX and the players like Liang Jingkun (born in 1997) and Yu Ziyang (born in 1998) are already quite competitive. Never to mention the other young players in the B team. So I don't really worry that the dominance of China will be ended after these guys retire because China will never only have Fan Zhendong.

I think Japan will be a big competitor to China in the future because they have spent a lot of money in training the young talented players to challenge the champion in the Olympics 2020 as the host nation. Let's see how well they are prepared.

 

[anchorschmidt]

I guess 1 or 2. The gold medal of mixed double will never be won by China/China and Timo has a chance to get his first WTTC gold medal.

They are competing in the actual doubles. Timo and Ma Long functioned brilliantly together and I think that only the pair of ZJK/XX can stop them.

 

[fz29888]

Update on 2/27/2015:

Liu Guoliang was interviewed by TT World today and commented on the Ma Long/Timo pair.

Liu Guoliang said that Timo contacted the CNT through Chinese TT Association two months ago to inquire the possibility to pair Ma Long in the doubles. He thought this new attempt can help the promotion of table tennis internationally. Timo has strong desire and Ma Long were excited to pair Timo. He also mentioned this cross association pair may sacrifice some interests of CNT, but he would like help the development of table tennis in the world because taking all the medals is not the first priority of CNT.

Interestingly, he calls this combination "Marco Polo" pair because the pronunciation of "Ma" is close to "Marco" and "Boll" is close to "Polo" in Chinese. Additionally, "Marco Polo" is the symbol of Chinese-European culture communication while this pair is the Chinese-European sports communication.

He also mentioned language won't be a problem for this pair because Timo know a little Chinese and Ma Long is studying English now. Timo also has a Chinese coach in his team.

He explained his criteria of selecting the players for men's single. There is no doubt for the selection of the top 4. He chose Fang Bo because his performance in 2014 was the best among the rest players. Fang Bo really well in some previous tournaments and was the third in the A team round robin. Yan An was selected because he has high world ranking and good performance in CTTSL. He also did well in last WTTC in 2013.

He also said that the latest roster for WTTC is not final yet. The list can be changed before March 12th especially the last spot in the women's single. They will still have to decide between Chen Meng and Wu Yang. The coaches make the decision based on development strategy, performance against foreigners and future potential. The CNT will start confined training since March 3.

 

[neklvlmooster]

I don't really think China has to worry too much about the next generation players after the generation of ZJK, ML and XX.
It is not the 20 years ago when China were lack of talent while the rest of the world was really competitive. China has learnt from the history and they have a very well organized system to train and select talented players. With the large population of China, the number of talented kids and experienced coaches are much more than rest of the world. The kids in the Chinese system are trained very hard, so China has a poll of good players to select. This contributes to the dominance of China in this sports. We see the Ma Lin, Wang Liqin and Wang Hao after the generation of Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui retired. And we have the Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Xu Xin after "two Wangs and one Ma". Now we see Fan Zhendong is really challenging ZJK, ML and XX and the players like Liang Jingkun (born in 1997) and Yu Ziyang (born in 1998) are already quite competitive. Never to mention the other young players in the B team. So I don't really worry that the dominance of China will be ended after these guys retire because China will never only have Fan Zhendong.

I think Japan will be a big competitor to China in the future because they have spent a lot of money in training the young talented players to challenge the champion in the Olympics 2020 as the host nation. Let's see how well they are prepared.

I agree with you that China has a lot of talented players, but right now it seems that the head coach Liu Guoliang are not giving them a chance to show their potentials.