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Nice. Thanks.
Not sure whether this matters. The Chinese team will do what the need to in order to get prepared for London.
But in the last few tournaments that they played, Wang Hao, Zhang Jike and Ma Long, all three of them were not at the top of their game.
Ma Long dropped a match to that Korean guy who really was not very good. Xu Xin beat both Ma Long and Zhang Jike in their last tournament. Wang Hao looked like he had gained a lot of weight. [Edit: I originally wrote that it looks like Wang Hao has taken the weight off. It looks like he has taken some of the weight off. But he is still a little too heavy and is not moving that well, based on the clips of him in the video. If Wang Hao does not take that weight off, China is in trouble.]
So we will see how ready China is for London.
I love watching them play, but I will root for anyone against them.
Go Portugal.
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They can always fake an injury
But indeed I think Wang Hao and Zhang Jike were always in the team + singles because of their qualification after WTTC 2011, and the 3rd member was to be decided by qualification tournaments, to which they sent Ma Long and Chen Qi. So for the 3rd team member there was sort of a choice: who to send to the qualification
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editing a big TTD Team episode... stay tuned 👀
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Ma Long and Ma Lin wears new shoes! Biggest surprise is for me that Wang Liqin won against Wang Hao. Wang Hao usually controls Da Li
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I actually expected them to get a blue floor like London's. Didn't they plan on imitating that as well?
You should know the facts before posting things like this; it has been discussed over and over again that only Wang Hao and Zhang Jike have qualified for singles. And even if for example Liu Guoliang had the choice, Ma Long might not be the best one based on his performance in the previous big events because of his changing level of mental strenght.
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The selection was based on the ITTF's rules. The first two qualifiers were based on ranking after the 2011 World Championships. At that time Wang Hao was #1 and Zhang Jike was #3 (but the #2 of China, Timo Boll was #2 in World Ranking). And Ma Long, at that time was #5. Only the top two were allowed to qualify based on World Ranking at that time. The last member had to go to the qualification tournament.
China sent Ma Long to the qualification tournament. China had no choice in the matter of the first two qualifying. It was simply based on World Ranking June 2011.
Is it a little foolish that they based on the world ranking of June 2011. Yes. But that was the ITTF not any personal decision. All countries had to go by the same rules.
Here are those rankings that the selections were made based on.
ITTF World ranking
World Ranking updated on: 05/15/2011 (M)
Click on the player name for his/her World ranking record
Rank Name Assoc.
1 (<<) 2842 WANG Hao CHN
2 (<<) 2812 BOLL Timo GER
3 (<<) 2772 ZHANG Jike CHN
4 (<<) 2672 MA Lin CHN
5 (<<) 2665 MA Long CHN
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And I believe that, only 2 players from each country could automatically qualify based on world ranking, and that only players in the top 28 could qualify based on world ranking. Everyone else had to qualify by qualification tournament.
The first two players to qualify for a country, qualify for the singles, and only two players can qualify for the singles.
The third player qualifies for team only.
Since, in June 2011 there were 3 players from China ranked higher than Ma Long, Ma Long did not qualify based on the world ranking.
And if you are a fan of China, you could also complain that Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Xu Xin did not qualify. Wang Liqin could break a record by being the only player to win 3 World Championships and an Olympic Gold if he won. Ma Lin could be the first player to win 2 Olympic Golds in Singles. And Xu Xin is coming up and some might argue he has more potential than anyone.
So the real issue is the sacrifices that the ITTF had to make so that Table Tennis would not get bumped from the Olympic venue. Since, the Olympic Committee was going to bump Table Tennis if the ITTF did not come up with some way of making it so that China did not win all the medals.
The first two players to qualify for a country, qualify for the singles, and only two players can qualify for the singles.
The third player qualifies for team only.
Since, in June 2011 there were 3 players from China ranked higher than Ma Long, Ma Long did not qualify based on the world ranking.
And if you are a fan of China, you could also complain that Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Xu Xin did not qualify. Wang Liqin could break a record by being the only player to win 3 World Championships and an Olympic Gold if he won. Ma Lin could be the first player to win 2 Olympic Golds in Singles. And Xu Xin is coming up and some might argue he has more potential than anyone.
So the real issue is the sacrifices that the ITTF had to make so that Table Tennis would not get bumped from the Olympic venue. Since, the Olympic Committee was going to bump Table Tennis if the ITTF did not come up with some way of making it so that China did not win all the medals.
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Shame for a great many players who will not qualify. I am not sure if Ryu Seung Min will be able to try for his 2nd Gold Medal either as a result of the Olympic Committee and the ITTF doing their best to handle the situation and keep Table Tennis an Olympic sport.
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Truthfully, from a standpoint of fairness, it would be nice if any player in the top 30 in the world would just automatically qualify for singles. It would make the tournament a much harder one to win. But the reality of the situation is, if everyone in the top 30 in the world automatically qualified, then China would probably win Gold, Silver and Bronze, and Team in both the MEN'S and the WOMEN'S events and that is why the Olympic Committee was going to take Table Tennis off the list as an Olympic sport. So the rules for qualifying that the ITTF came up with might not be perfect, and it might have been better if they used the world rankings as of February 2012 instead of June 2011, for a tournament in the summer of 2012. But, I would rather have Table Tennis in the Olympics and deal with the fact that many, many players who deserve to be there, are not.
Here is a list of some players who will not play in the singles who I believe deserve to be there:
Ma Lin
Wang Liqin
Xu Xin
Ma Long
Chen Chi
Hao Shwuai
Ryu Seung Min
In that List, Ryu Seung Min and Ma Long will at least get to play in the Olympics at the team event.
Ma Lin
Wang Liqin
Xu Xin
Chen Chi and
Hao Shuai
will not get to play at all.
Here is a list of some players who will not play in the singles who I believe deserve to be there:
Ma Lin
Wang Liqin
Xu Xin
Ma Long
Chen Chi
Hao Shwuai
Ryu Seung Min
In that List, Ryu Seung Min and Ma Long will at least get to play in the Olympics at the team event.
Ma Lin
Wang Liqin
Xu Xin
Chen Chi and
Hao Shuai
will not get to play at all.
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And what about Süss, Steger, Baum, Koki Niwa, the Matsudaira's, Kim Min Seok/Lee Sang Su/Jung Young Sik
People often think it is a big deficit for China, and it certainly is, but many other players lose a chance at their dream too. But I agree with Michal_Z. In order for the Olympics to be more open again, the rest of the world should just catch up... Like in tennis, where the top players are from all over the planet. That is hard to achieve though. Until then we'll just enjoy what we get to see I guess
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And what about Süss, Steger, Baum, Koki Niwa, the Matsudaira's, Kim Min Seok/Lee Sang Su/Jung Young Sik
Great post Wiwa. I agree.
Suss
Steger
Baum
Niwa
Masudaira 1 and 2
Kim Min Seok
Lee Sang Su
Jung Young Sik
There really are many people who deserve to play in the singles who will not.
And I agree with a post you, Wiwa, made quite a while ago, that I would rather have Table Tennis as an Olympic sport despite the sacrifices that had to be made, than to have it bumped and further marginalized as a sport.
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