Table Tennis: Super Grand Slam

Chapter 200: Xu Guinian wins his first men's singles title, Wang Xianlan defends her women's singles title

competition is over.

After returning to the dormitory, someone knocked on the door shortly afterwards.

Li Ying opened the door and immediately saw the Bayi team's head coach Wang Tao, Mengli and Zhou Yu standing outside the door.

Seeing this scene, Li Ying hurriedly welcomed them into the house.

at this time.

Before Wang Tao could say anything, Li Ying smiled bitterly and said, "Director Wang, do you think I, Li Ying, am so fragile? It's just a loss. To me, this is just a game in the Table Tennis Super League!"

"Besides, didn't we win in the end? We defended the dignity of our home court!"

Hearing this, Wang Tao immediately felt relieved.

Meng Li smiled and said, "Yes, Ah Ying, your mentality is good. Don't be arrogant when you win, and don't be discouraged when you lose."

Mengli initially thought that Li Ying was still young and would definitely not be able to accept such a blow for a while.

but.

Looking at Li Ying's calm expression, you can tell that Li Ying doesn't take such things to heart at all.

not to mention.

This is what Mengli feels is normal.

Where can you find an athlete who remains undefeated throughout his career?
But no matter what.

Li Ying is already great enough.

After bragging for a while, Wang Tao and his friends left.

Followed by.

Wang Xianlan called.

"Xiaoying, I heard..." Wang Xianlan had just finished the game and heard others say that Li Ying lost, so she called immediately.

There was genuine concern in her tone.

"I'm fine. It's just a loss. It's normal to win and lose in a competition!" Li Ying really didn't take the loss of this competition seriously.

after all.

The one who defeated him was Kong Fengge.

These ones.

Li Ying had already been mentally prepared enough.

Wang Xianlan could naturally tell whether Li Ying was really fine or just pretending to be fine.

"Well, it's a competition, winning and losing is normal!" Wang Xianlan said openly.

because.

Although she is the leader of the women's team, it does not mean that she has a 100% winning rate when facing Ji Chuanxia and Qiao Yuning.

even.

Most of the time, she was at a disadvantage.

But she is often able to defeat them in very important world competitions.

of course.

To what extent Li Ying played a role in this, only Li Ying and Wang Xianlan themselves know.

After chatting for a long time, Li Ying hung up the phone reluctantly.

Although he and Wang Xianlan are both successful now, they still have the perseverance as professional athletes in their bones.

if not.

With the wealth and fame Li Ying has accumulated now, he can completely retire and stop being a professional athlete.

but.

Li Ying has never considered retiring.

perhaps.

Think about these things when you are older.

I am currently at my peak, how could I retire?

Table Tennis Super League, a fierce battle among the heroes!

Li Ying was defeated by Kong Fengge, which means that they also have a chance. Many top superstars in the men's table tennis world are extremely eager to meet the Bayi team and fight with Li Ying!
but.

During the Table Tennis Super League, three open tournaments in Europe also started!

In today's open tournaments, even top superstars cannot be ignored.

because.

Like the World Series, it’s no longer possible to win the championship.

Then.

For top superstars, the greatest honor is various intercontinental competitions.

And among them.

Asia’s table tennis superstars are the most miserable.

Because whether it is the Asian Cup or the Asian Championship, the championships in recent years have been monopolized by Xia Country!

In many cases, starting from the semi-finals, the Xia Kingdom has dominated all the places.

under these circumstances.

The Open Championship becomes very important.

Words from before.

Table tennis superstars don’t pay much attention to open tournaments.

But things are different now.

Open tournament championships, especially open tournaments that Li Ying does not participate in, top superstars must also participate. Only in this way can some championships be won.

and so.

After Li Ying stopped participating in the three European open tournaments, table tennis superstars from all over the world became interested in them.

Including members of the Xiaguo national table tennis team.

It is clear.

Everyone wants to practice through competition, compete against each other, and improve their table tennis skills.

then!

Challenge the big devil Li Ying!
While other top superstars participate in open tournaments, Li Ying only participates in the Table Tennis Super League.

Life seems monotonous and boring, but apart from training and competitions every day, if Li Ying has free time, he will naturally play games when he returns home.

then.

I don’t feel that daily life is that hard.

Time flies and it is already December.

As for the year-end finals, it is the final battle of the annual ITTF Tour, and the top 16 men's and women's singles players in the ITTF Tour points list will participate.

According to the rules of the International Table Tennis Federation, singles players must participate in 5 full tournaments and doubles players must participate in 4 full tournaments with the same partner to be eligible to participate in the finals. According to these rules, men's singles players Li Ying, Kong Fengge, Liang Long and women's singles players Ji Chuanxia, ​​Xu Mingyue and others will not be able to appear in the Lin'an finals in December.

According to the previous list, the male and female players from Xia Guo participating in the competition were Xu Guinian, Meng Li, Ma Qing for men, and Wang Xianlan, Qiao Yuning, Chen Meng for women. The players in the latest list announced by the International Table Tennis Federation today have all confirmed that they will go to Lin'an to participate in the competition.

Although he will not participate in the ITTF year-end finals, it does not mean that Li Ying cannot go to Lin'an to play.

Kong Fengge and Liang Long have already gone home to rest.

Li Ying came to Lin'an and stayed in a five-star hotel closest to the stadium.

Li Ying mainly accompanies Wang Xianlan every day.

finally.

The top battle in men's singles was between Xu Guinian and Meng Li, and the top battle in women's singles was between Wang Xianlan and Qiao Yuning.

It can be said.

On the land of Xia, no matter who the Xia national table tennis team sends, they all want to defend their honor.

and so.

Only Xu Guinian and Meng Li were able to defeat the top male table tennis stars who were as fierce as wolves and tigers, and finally successfully met in the men's singles final.

The first match to start was the women's singles final.

In the women's singles final, Wang Xianlan faced Qiao Yuning without any off-court coaching.

because.

Wang Xianlan’s current head coach is still Hou Bingguang, but there are rumors that Wang Xianlan will soon change her head coach.

Because Hou Bingguang is the head coach of the women's team, it is inappropriate for him to continue to serve as Wang Xianlan's head coach.

Qiao Yuning and Wang Xianlan both played a full seven games in the semi-finals. Wang Xianlan eliminated the top female star of Singapore and helped the Xiaguo team secure the championship.

After the start of the game, Qiao Yuning took the initiative. She played actively and proactively, constantly suppressing Wang Xianlan. Qiao Yuning won the first two games 11-9 and 11-7.

In the third game, Qiao Yuning was a bit conservative and made many mistakes on the court. After the score was tied at 8, Wang Xianlan seized the opportunity and fought twice in a row to take the lead. She pulled it back with 11 to 9.

With her morale boosted, Wang Xianlan pressed on to win the fourth game, 11 to 1, and she quickly won the fourth game to tie the score at 2-.

In the fifth game, Wang Xianlan quickly took the lead, Qiao Yuning tied the score at 5, and Wang Xianlan responded with two points to take the lead again. After Qiao Yuning recovered 1 point, Wang Xianlan won 3 points in a row and got the game point with 10 to 6. Qiao Yuning, who was behind in the score, played more resolutely and scored a forehand pull to resolve the game point, but Wang Xianlan used her serve to attack and scored 11 to 7. She won the decisive battle and took the lead 3 to 2.

With no way out, Qiao Yuning obviously stepped up her attack in the sixth game, but Wang Xianlan was well prepared when she returned the ball. She used the back-pull to score points and took the lead 3-1. Qiao Yuning had to request a timeout. Qiao Yuning returned to the court and recovered 1 point by changing the landing point of the return ball, but Wang Xianlan quickly returned two points and she continued to maintain the lead. After Qiao Yuning caught up to 4-5, Wang Xianlan suppressed Qiao Yuning with a fierce attack. She won 4 points in a row and widened the score.

Qiao Yuning didn't give up despite the unfavorable situation. She scored three points in a row and fell behind 3-7. Unfortunately, she missed a chance ball when she served and attacked at the critical moment. Wang Xianlan got the championship point with 9-10. Wang Xianlan seized the first match point. The two sides were in a stalemate on the court. Wang Xianlan changed the line and hit the opponent's forehand. Qiao Yuning's return ball went out of bounds. Wang Xianlan won the sixth game with 7-11 and defeated Qiao Yuning 7-4 to win the championship.

Wang Xianlan was very happy after defeating a powerful opponent.

Because although Wang Xianlan is currently the top player, it is obvious that her dominance in the women's team is far inferior to that of the previous generations of big demons.

and so!
Every time facing Ji Chuanxia or Qiao Yuning, Wang Xianlan gave her all.

now.

Wang Xianlan breathed a sigh of relief after coming back from 2-0 down to win the women's singles championship and defeating Qiao Yuning.

Followed by.

It's the men's singles final.

The men's singles final was a Xiaguo derby. Xu Guinian and Meng Li eliminated Ma Qing and Sun Guanqing respectively in the previous semi-finals.

Xu Guinian played very actively at the beginning of the game. He relied on the upper hand to attack and quickly took the lead with 8 to 3. Although Mengli tried hard to narrow the gap, Xu Guinian took the initiative and won 11 to 8.

In the second game, Xu Guinian quickly took the lead again. After 9-5, he made consecutive mistakes and lost two points, but he insisted on attacking and scored 1 point first to get the game point with 10-7. Xu Guinian served and attacked and scored, 11-7, he won another game.

The two sides fought more fiercely in the third game. After the score was tied at 3, Xu Guinian took advantage of two serving opportunities and scored twice. Mengli quickly hit back with two points to tie the score. After the score was tied at 6, Xu Guinian gave full play to his forehand and backhand attacks, while Mengli was suppressed by his opponent. Xu Guinian won 4 points in a row and got the game point with 10 to 6. Mengli, who obviously lost his fighting spirit, made another mistake and led 11 to 6. Xu Guinian took the icing on the cake and led the total score 3 to 0.

Xu Guinian, who was chasing after the victory, scored 3 points in the fourth game. When the score became 5-1, Xu Guinian relaxed a little, and Mengli took the opportunity to score two points in a row. He used two serving opportunities to fight back, and he used forehand attacks to score points continuously, and scored 3 points in a row to lead 8-3.

When Mengli chased to 6-9, Xu Guinian requested a timeout. After returning to the court, Xu Guinian won another point and got the match point 1-10. Mengli saved a match point, but he immediately made a serve error, 6-11, and he won the fourth game and swept Mengli 7-4 to win the championship.

Xu Guinian was extremely excited after winning the championship.

This is his first time to win the men's singles championship in the finals, and it is also the most important singles championship in Xu Guinian's career so far. Perhaps this championship can allow Xu Guinian, who has fallen behind his peers Liang Long and Kong Fengge, to have a new start.

The ITTF World Tour Finals is a relatively important event after the London Olympics and is also the finale of the year. This championship is quite meaningful.

At this time in 2003, Mengli won the first major championship of his career at the ITTF Finals, and then began to show his strength. In early 2004, he made great achievements in the World Table Tennis Championships team competition, and then squeezed out Hou Bingguang to compete in the singles of the Athens Olympics, and step by step became the leader of the Chinese men's table tennis team.

It can be said that the ITTF Finals was the starting point for Monli’s rise.

Now Xu Guinian has also won the most important singles championship in his career here, replicating Monri's old path, and undoubtedly has a good start in the new Olympic cycle.

It is worth mentioning that Xu Guinian and Meng Li are somewhat similar in technique. Both are straight-blade players. The young Xu Guinian has a fierce straight-blade forehand and a large and flexible stride.
The mature Monli is proficient in backhand straight-grip technique and has always performed steadily in the mid- and near-table positions. Both of them are examples of the straight-grip playing style.

Xu Guinian, who won the championship, was very excited in the evening and invited Li Ying and Wang Xianlan to dinner in Lin'an!
Li Ying couldn't resist Xu Guinian's constant nagging and finally agreed.

Lin'an, a very high-end private restaurant.

Li Ying and Wang Xianlan entered the private room together.

"Brother Xu, you too, must you treat us in this food desert of Lin'an? Can't you even return to your magic?"

"A Ying, even though there are delicious foods today, you can't stop talking, right?"

"Anyway, congratulations on winning the men's singles championship in the year-end finals!" Li Ying said with a smile.

After hearing this, Xu Guinian was very pleased and expressed his happiness.

"Although Liang Long, Kong Fengge and I did not participate in the competition..."

Before Li Ying could continue speaking, Xu Guinian had already taken out the white wine.

"Aying, since you can't speak, just say less!" Xu Guinian said quickly.

"Hey, you too, it's just an ordinary meal, but you bring out such good wine!" The wine that Xu Guinian took out was Maozi.

Now Xu Guinian is naturally not short of money!

Mainly because of commercial endorsements.

Of course, there is also a lot of prize money in the competition.

"Do you want to drink?" Xu Guinian looked at Li Ying.

"Drink, why not drink when there's Maozi!" Li Ying said with a smile.

Li Ying could see that Xu Guinian was very happy.

Then just accompany him and have fun.

Anyway, I'm very busy next.

Professional athletes, especially table tennis players, do not have many vacation days in a year.

After drinking, Xu Guinian talked a lot. Most of the time, Li Ying was listening and Xu Guinian was talking.

later.

If nothing unexpected happened, Xu Guinian got drunk.

no way.

Li Ying had no choice but to drag Xu Guinian to the hotel.

Xu Guinian slowly sobered up.

Li Ying left only after seeing Xu Guinian wake up and fall asleep!

then.

Go find Wang Xianlan!
In Lin'an, we spent several wonderful days. I went around the West Lake with Wang Xianlan and took in the beautiful scenery of Lin'an.

Then, return to the imperial capital!

The game of the Bayi team has not yet ended.

The Table Tennis Super League is in full swing.

This year, each team has tried their best to get into the top four.

Because as the influence of the Table Tennis Super League grows, every round of the League attracts attention.

finally.

The first phase of the men's team competition has come to an end.

August 1st!

Unparalleled!

Ningbo Haitian led by Liang Long!
Luneng, led by Kong Fengge, ranked among the top four in the standings, in other words, entered the championship group.

last year.

Bayi defeated Jueshi, and Li Ying led the team to win the Table Tennis Super League Championship!
This year!

The structure of the Table Tennis Super League is similar to last year.

(End of this chapter)