Zhang Jike CONFIRMED and will play singles at Rio Olympics 2016!

[NextLevel]

amen.

Also from TableTennista, this is not an official announcement yet: http://tabletennista.com/2016/5/zhang-jike-has-locked-his-olympic-singles-seat-videos/

It is official. This is how you know.

http://www.ittf.com/World_Events/2016OG/2016_OG_qualified_players.pdf

 

[NextLevel]

The one thing I would say about the 2 player max from each country for singles: there is only one country that has more than two players who deserve to go to the singles event. It is sad that that is the case. China has 4 that really could be considered. Most other countries have one that should be considered and another 1 or 2 who would fill out their team so they can play the team event. Japan, Korea, and Germany have 2 players that deserve a shot in the singles event. No other country is even 2 deep on their roster. But Japan and Germany don't really have a 3rd player. And Korea has a few older players who don't play as much, but, who, in some ways may be better than the Korean younger generation. In spite of lower world ranking or not even appearing on the World Ranking because of inactivity the older generation Korean players may still have something over the younger generation.

So, unfortunately, allowing China to send 3 would probably mean 3 medals for China and none for any other country. I don't like the way this has been sorted out. And it would be nice if there was more talent outside China in table tennis. But this is the reality of the situation. It is also why China does not send too many of its provincial players to world events. There are really another several players from China who could be in the World's top 10 if they had the exposure in World Tour play.

So, does anyone have any other ideas of how to run the Olympic Singles Event where all the top players who deserve to be there can play, without one country winning all the medals? It is a testament to the level of talent in China that they have 4 guys who really are better than anyone else entering the event. And really probably could have several more. And no other country can actually field more than 2 that have a shot at placing in the top 4!

Guys, this is more than just about China. People are so focused on this best player thing that they don't look at Olympics politics in each nation. Some countries will not send athletes if they have no chance of winning a medal or placing respectably. The ITTF had to do what it did to make sure that countries still felt table tennis was worth investing in for the short term. Last Olympics for example, MAtilda Ekholm from Sweden was not sent by her country after she qualified. At least, this year, because she and a teammate qualified, they are sending her.

 

[Sali]

Guys, this is more than just about China. People are so focused on this best player thing that they don't look at Olympics politics in each nation. Some countries will not send athletes if they have no chance of winning a medal or placing respectably. The ITTF had to do what it did to make sure that countries still felt table tennis was worth investing in for the short term. Last Olympics for example, MAtilda Ekholm from Sweden was not sent by her country after she qualified. At least, this year, because she and a teammate qualified, they are sending her.

What is more each country has a problem, not only China. Japan and Germany fight for bronze medal. Japan of course Mizutani is no 1, bo who is no 2 - Niwa (very poor from two years), Yoshimura (came up just last years but still has ups and downs), Oshima (fought brave with Ma Long last year, but since then lost almost everything), Kenta (poor last year but now improving, won with oshima easily not far ago).
The same with Germany, Ovtcharov is obvious, but who is next - Boll??? (quite old, many injuries lately, but never lost to Mizutani), maybe Steger who is quite solid but will never reach semis.
And so on - each country has a problem

 

[NextLevel]

What is more each country has a problem, not only China. Japan and Germany fight for bronze medal. Japan of course Mizutani is no 1, bo who is no 2 - Niwa (very poor from two years), Yoshimura (came up just last years but still has ups and downs), Oshima (fought brave with Ma Long last year, but since then lost almost everything), Kenta (poor last year but now improving, won with oshima easily not far ago).
The same with Germany, Ovtcharov is obvious, but who is next - Boll??? (quite old, many injuries lately, but never lost to Mizutani), maybe Steger who is quite solid but will never reach semis.
And so on - each country has a problem

Maybe in your theory but in practice, Germany will only send Steger if he is playing the teams. They would probably reject him if he was the best player in the country because he has no chance of medaling. Germany has rejected better tennis players like Tommy Haas or even other athletes who have qualified for other sports. The point here is that to make table tennis sustainable, you need countries to invest and they will only invest in Olympics if they have a chance of winning.

 

[Baal]

With all due respect I don't think that they "rightfully deserve medals". Nobody rightfully deserves anything unless they actually win it. XX and LSW are great but for some reason they lacked a tiny bit of something to gain their coaches' choice.
Of course there could be more spots for each country, but those are the rules and the concept of the Olympic Games is not only the best players to be there, but also as many countries and peoples as possible to be represented.

Yes but nothing stopped them from expanding the draw. It was a transparent move to keep China from sweeping medals and it flies in the face of what sports should be about -- especially individual sports like table tennis. Let the best players play.

 

[Baal]

I am glad that one of the handful of Grand Slam winners in our sport gets to defend his gold medal. There will be time for FZD. And XX has never accomplished as much in big events.

 

[Persistence TT]

In the end the lineups were somehow predictable but of course I wasnt 100 % sure. Chinese coaches always go with safer solutions and the truth is ma long zhang jike ding ning and li xiaoxia all delivered when they had to deliver, sadly XX and LSW did not. LSW is definitely unlucky, if she wasnt affected from the DN injury during their final she would be cruyshing everyone now.

Its interesting how some results have a huge impact on players carreers.

Zhang jike had a tremendous boost of confidence after winning against ma long in 2010 trials, then came the participation in 2010 wtttc (the weird thing is that if wang hao was not in such a bad form, LGL would have never replaced him with zhang) and of course the 2011 title.

On the other hand LSW was to blame for the 2010 loss (up till then she was considered the most promising young player), even though ding ning also lost her match being 2-0 up against feng tianwei

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

As my prediction in 2012
Xu Xin will never play Olympic singles
This is pretty much is best chance
Next one, FZD is for sure and then another up and rising champion
Sad to be a member of the Chinese National Table Tennis team in a way.
Xu Xin, the 1st world number 1 not to ever qualify for Olympics - reason, because he is from China and only 2 people can represent a billion

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Lets not forget the Japanese Team, Niwa no2 is very strange. Yoshimura looks much more promising. Niwa has not a lot of results recently. And its very wrong not to let Ito play singles. She just beated Ding Ning at Asian Qualifiers !!!! Fukuhara, and even more Ishikawa have a long losing record against Chinese players. Fukuhara has less than a handful victories, and Ishikawa , like Mizutani NEVER EVER won !!!!!

totally stupid decisions...

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Lets not forget the Japanese Team, Niwa no2 is very strange. Yoshimura looks much more promising. Niwa has not a lot of results recently. And its very wrong not to let Ito play singles. She just beated Ding Ning at Asian Qualifiers !!!! Fukuhara, and even more Ishikawa have a long losing record against Chinese players. Fukuhara has less than a handful victories, and Ishikawa , like Mizutani NEVER EVER won !!!!!

totally stupid decisions...

I also said in 2012
This 2 player policy will not only hurt China
It will hurt Japan, Korea, Germany

So in future, less kids will want to go for table tennis, as there is no more olympic glory
well done to our leaders. Olympic is no longer that special any more

 

[Lolman]

I really wanted to see Xu Xin in the singles, to be fair to him, he has beaten Zhang Jike so many times!

 

[NextLevel]

Lets not forget the Japanese Team, Niwa no2 is very strange. Yoshimura looks much more promising. Niwa has not a lot of results recently. And its very wrong not to let Ito play singles. She just beated Ding Ning at Asian Qualifiers !!!! Fukuhara, and even more Ishikawa have a long losing record against Chinese players. Fukuhara has less than a handful victories, and Ishikawa , like Mizutani NEVER EVER won !!!!!

totally stupid decisions...

The Japanese coaches laid down the qualification rules and followed them. Most of the contest was last year.

 

[NextLevel]

I also said in 2012
This 2 player policy will not only hurt China
It will hurt Japan, Korea, Germany

So in future, less kids will want to go for table tennis, as there is no more olympic glory
well done to our leaders. Olympic is no longer that special any more

Given how most countries handle Olympic budgeting, this can hardly be true.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

The two player system is the best system for the growth of the sport. If a country wins an olympic medal in a sport it usually receives quite a substantial increase in sport funding. Giving other countries a chance to win Olympic medals helps put the sport on the map in countries other than China.

I know after Chinese Taipei won the men's doubles at the world championships they received quite a significant increase in funding from private investors and the government sport department.

On the note of Zhang Jike being selected for singles, he is definitely the best choice. Should he win then China will have the greatest table tennis player in history with two grand slams. Should Ma Long win then he will join the ranks of the grand slam champions. Unless the two of them both lose it's really a win/win for China in the record books.

 

[dio_hgw]

Yes but nothing stopped them from expanding the draw. It was a transparent move to keep China from sweeping medals and it flies in the face of what sports should be about -- especially individual sports like table tennis. Let the best players play.

Maybe so, but keeping China from sweeping medals is not necessarily bad for the sport. More countries, more people will get interested that way. It's like the World Cup in football. Traditionally, all the best teams came from Europe or Latin America and lately African countries, but the competition and the sport needs USA, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea etc.
What if there was an open qualifying tournament? China would probably get 10 or more spots! They do nothing wrong, they are admirable for their level, but less people would care. Also the general level of the games will probably be higher now, cause everybody has a better chance to win at least the bronze medal. Even the CNT players will feel the pressure and will have to give their best, cause if ZJK or ML lose there will not be FZD or XX to save the medal for their country.

 

[Baal]

Maybe so, but keeping China from sweeping medals is not necessarily bad for the sport. More countries, more people will get interested that way. It's like the World Cup in football. Traditionally, all the best teams came from Europe or Latin America and lately African countries, but the competition and the sport needs USA, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea etc.
What if there was an open qualifying tournament? China would probably get 10 or more spots! They do nothing wrong, they are admirable for their level, but less people would care. Also the general level of the games will probably be higher now, cause everybody has a better chance to win at least the bronze medal. Even the CNT players will feel the pressure and will have to give their best, cause if ZJK or ML lose there will not be FZD or XX to save the medal for their country.

I do understand that argument. And it is clearly the argument that carried the day.

Still, it seems like cheating to me, especially for an individual sport. If several of the world's top 20 are not allowed to play, it seems to me that it cheapens the value of an Olympic gold.

( North/Central American football at World Cup is clearly a whole lot better than the table tennis).

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Given how most countries handle Olympic budgeting, this can hardly be true.

Given how must countries handle Olympic budgeting.
Even qualified players will not make it, as they are not medal prospects players

But I guess you don't see or understand my meaning with kids not going for table tennis.
Table tennis is dropping rapidly in Asia
Maybe you will understand my statement in 10 years time

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The two player system is the best system for the growth of the sport. If a country wins an olympic medal in a sport it usually receives quite a substantial increase in sport funding. Giving other countries a chance to win Olympic medals helps put the sport on the map in countries other than China.

I know after Chinese Taipei won the men's doubles at the world championships they received quite a significant increase in funding from private investors and the government sport department.

On the note of Zhang Jike being selected for singles, he is definitely the best choice. Should he win then China will have the greatest table tennis player in history with two grand slams. Should Ma Long win then he will join the ranks of the grand slam champions. Unless the two of them both lose it's really a win/win for China in the record books.

Matt, you are wrong here
Chinese Taipei funding came from World Champ, not Olympic
And to be more precise, Chinese Taipei (Table Tennis Association) did not get any funding from the private investors.
It is Chuang's Chih Yuan Table Tennis Academy

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I do understand that argument. And it is clearly the argument that carried the day.

Still, it seems like cheating to me, especially for an individual sport. If several of the world's top 20 are not allowed to play, it seems to me that it cheapens the value of an Olympic gold.

( North/Central American football at World Cup is clearly a whole lot better than the table tennis).

To me, the pinnacle of table tennis is no longer Olympic
In facts, Olympic is probably lower rated/leveled than some world tours.

The world champs, world cup, certain world tours, will provide a much higher competition and level of table tennis.
Olympic is like a joke for table tennis.
Imagine Team USA swimming only allowed 2 swimmers per category, how about sprinters too? Team USA wins way too many medals in those 2 sports - its bad for the sport too then
If swimming and athletics, they also make it 2 players per category - this will also lower the level of the tournament

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Matt, you are wrong here
Chinese Taipei funding came from World Champ, not Olympic
And to be more precise, Chinese Taipei (Table Tennis Association) did not get any funding from the private investors.
It is Chuang's Chih Yuan Table Tennis Academy

I said the world championships. It was just an example (a bad one obviously lol)

The point is, Olympic medals result in greater funding for the sport and it's national associations.