TTD on Chinese Social Media Comparing Current Gen and Previous Gen Chinese Players

[aerial]

@TableTennisDaily:
"二王一马"之间复杂交手记录(国际赛场): 王励勤13:11马琳，马琳15:10王皓，王皓14:11王励勤；再来看看新一代三巨头之间的：马龙8:4张继科，张继科4:4许昕，许昕6:14马龙

So it seems whoever is running the TTD Weibo account noticed a pretty big discrepancy when juxtaposing the H-H records of the recently retired top three CNT players and current top three CNT players.

Rough Translation:
"2Wang1Ma"had complicated head to head records (international matches): Wang Liqin 13:11 Ma Lin, Ma Lin 15:10 Wang Hao, Wang Hao 14:11 Wang Liqin; Let's take a look at the current big shots: Ma Long 8:4 Zhang Jike, Zhang Jike 4:4 Xu Xin, Xu Xin 6:14 Ma Long

Looking at the numbers, the old-guard did have a little bit of "Rock Paper Scissors" going on, while the new generation is being overpowered by Ma Long. The first thing that comes to mind is comparing the "big events" though, and in that regard, it is another lopsided victory for the new generation (for ZJK instead of ML), while still relatively balanced for the old generation.

I did a bit of research on the grand slam events (singles only):
Wang Liqin

2004 Athens, Greece Olympic Singles Bronze
2008 Beijing, China Olympic Singles Bronze

2001 Osaka, Japan 46-WTTC Singles Gold
2005 Shanghai, China 48-WTTC Singles Gold
2007 Zagreb, Croatia 49-WTTC Singles Gold
2009 Yokohama, Japan 50-WTTC Singles Silver

2000 Yangzhou, China WC Singles Bronze
2001 Courmayeur, Italy WC Singles Silver
2003 Jiangyin, China WC Singles Bronze
2006 Paris, France WC Singles Bronze
2007 Barcelona, Spain WC Singles Bronze

--------------------------------------------------

Ma Lin

2008 Beijing, China Olympics Singles Gold

1999 Eindhoven, Netherlands 45-WTTC Singles Silver
2001 Osaka, Japan 46-WTTC Singles Bronze
2005 Shanghai, China 48-WTTC Singles Silver
2007 Zagreb, Croatia 49-WTTC Singles Silver
2009 Yokohama, Japan 50-WTTC Singles Bronze

2000 Yangzhou, China WC Singles Gold
2003 Jiangyin, China WC Singles Gold
2004 Hangzhou, China WC Singles Gold
2005 Liege, Belgium WC Singles Bronze
2006 Paris, France WC Singles Gold

--------------------------------------------------

Wang Hao

2004 Athens, Greece Olympics Singles Silver
2008 Beijing, China Olympics Singles Silver
2012 London, England Olympics Singles Silver

2007 Zagreb, Croatia 49-WTTC Singles Bronze
2009 Yokohama, Japan 50-WTTC Singles Gold
2011 Rotterdam, Netherlands 51-WTTC Singles Silver
2013 Paris, France 52-WTTC Singles Silver

2004 Hangzhou, China WC Singles Bronze
2005 Liege, Belgium WC Singles Silver
2006 Paris, France WC Singles Silver
2007 Barcelona, Spain WC Singles Gold
2008 Liege, Belgium WC Singles Gold
2010 Magdeburg, Germany WC Singles Gold
2011 Paris, France WC Singles Silver

--------------------------------------------------

Zhang Jike

2012 London, England Olympics Singles Gold

2011 Rotterdam, Netherlands 51-WTTC Singles Gold
2013 Paris, France 52-WTTC Singles Gold
2015 Suzhou, China 53-WTTC Singles Bronze

2010 Magdeburg, Germany WC Singles Silver
2011 Paris, France WC Singles Gold
2014 Dusseldorf, Germany WC Singles Gold

--------------------------------------------------

Ma Long
2009 Yokohama, Japan 50-WTTC Singles Bronze
2011 Rotterdam, Netherlands 51-WTTC Singles Bronze
2013 Paris, France 52-WTTC Singles Bronze
2015 Suzhou, China 53-WTTC Singles Gold

2008 Liege, Belgium WC Singles Bronze
2009 Moscow, Russia WC Singles Bronze
2012 Liverpool, England WC Singles Gold
2014 Dusseldorf, Germany WC Singles Silver

--------------------------------------------------

Xu Xin

2013 Paris, France 52-WTTC Singles Bronze

And putting this into a table...:

Player/Tournament	Olympics	WTTC	WC
Wang Liqin	0X Gold 0X Silver 2X Bronze	3X Gold 1X Silver 0X Bronze	0X Gold 1X Silver 4X Bronze
Ma Lin	1X Gold 0X Silver 0X Bronze	0X Gold 3X Silver 2X Bronze	4X Gold 0X Silver 1X Bronze
Wang Hao	0X Gold 3X Silver 0X Bronze	1X Gold 2X Silver 1X Bronze	3X Gold 3X Silver 1X Bronze
Zhang Jike	1X Gold 0X Silver 0X Bronze	2X Gold 0X Silver 1X Bronze	2X Gold 1X Silver 0X Bronze
Ma Long	0X Gold 0X Silver 0X Bronze	1X Gold 0X Silver 3X Bronze	1X Gold 1X Silver 2X Bronze
Xu Xin	0X Gold 0X Silver 0X Bronze	0X Gold 0X Silver 1X Bronze	0X Gold 0X Silver 0X Bronze

Quantifying this a bit with Gold = 1, Silver = 0.25, and Bronze = 0.125

Player/Tournament	Olympics	WTTC	WC
Wang Liqin	0.250	3.250	0.750
Ma Lin	1.000	1.000	4.125
Wang Hao	0.750	1.625	3.875
Zhang Jike	1.000	2.125	2.250
Ma Long	0.000	1.375	1.500
Xu Xin	0.000	0.125	0.000

We can see that the old "big 3" had a decent spread whereas the new "big 3" is pretty in favor of Zhang Jike in the big events.

Now where am I getting with this you might ask?

I'm not sure myself. I just wanted to kill sometime while I was taking a defensive driving course online to lower my insurance premium and the damn thing won't let me click "next" without the timer going to 0 seconds...

Okay, fine, I guess that would be a pretty anti-climactic way to end this post, so, instead, I will say that Ma Long will turn the tides in these big events in the coming years to reflect his utter dominance of his generation!!! I may just eat my words in the future since Fan Zhendong is literally breathing down the neck of the current gen., and Fang Bo made a good showing--but mark my words, Ma Long is going to keep winning big titles! Next stop, 2016 Rio Olympics!

 

[TT4Life]

i'm agreeing with you 100% about ML keep winning

 

[TareqPhoto]

Give it more time and let's see when those new big 3 nearly retirement what will be the calculations again.

We can't compare old generation with new, each has their own glory and fall off, so let each generation has its own history, not necessary to make all generations the same in many things, and in old generations we saw non Chinese as rivals in some events, Korean, Sweden, German, whatever, but nowadays who can stand against Chinese players in top 3?!!!

Now we will see if ML will keep winning, or Xu Xin will come back, or ZJK will wake up again, and many keep talking and waiting FZD to be the next champion, don't forget Fang Bo if he will have the opportunity too.