Table tennis: Swinging the racket billions of times, achieving a grand slam

Chapter 260: Fukuoka Finals, meet Darko Jockey again!
Since 2021, the ITTF Tour has been suspended due to the epidemic.

It was not until 2023 that the emergence of WTT gradually replaced the tour.

Under this circumstance, the ITTF Tour Finals, one of the nine Super Grand Slam events, was also replaced by the WTT Finals.

Compared with the Grand Slams, the WTT Finals is just a second-tier event.

Taking the BJ Grand Slam as an example, the championship prize of US$100,000 and 2,000 points are almost comparable to the three major tournaments.

The champion prize of the Fukuoka Finals is only 40,000 US dollars, less than half of the BJ Grand Slam.

The championship points are only 1,500.

However, as a substitute for the ITTF World Tour Finals, the competition format of the WTT Finals is almost copied from the former.

The list of participants is composed of the top sixteen players in the world points ranking, who will compete in the final showdown at the end of the year.

The Fukuoka finals are divided into four events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles.

The competition schedule is tight and will last for five days from November 11th to 20th.

Among them, the singles competition starts from the round of 1, and the doubles competition starts from the quarter-finals.

Like other competitions, the draw is divided into the upper and lower halves and four smaller areas according to the seeding positions.

Before the semi-finals, it was best of five.

Semi-finals and finals, best of seven.

Although the world points ranking does not represent the true strength ranking, the WTT Finals is still a very valuable event.

Experts from all walks of life gathered in Fukuoka.

Just to compete for the championship of one of the nine major competitions.

January 11, 18 p.m.

The drawing ceremony begins.

As the third seed of this competition, Chen Jin and Wang Chuqin are in the upper half.

It’s just that Wang Chuqin is in zone 1/4 and Chen Jin is in zone 2/4.

Apart from these two, Moregard, Felix and Anton Carlberg were all crowded in the upper half.

As soon as the lottery results are out.

The topic immediately became a hot topic online.

"Fuck, the situation in the upper half is so exciting?"

"Chen Jin, Wang Chuqin, Mo Shen, Xiao Bu, Anton... Oh my god, it's all a complicated entanglement of grievances and hatreds!"

"The top half of the draw...are we really going to settle the accounts together for the year-end finals?"

"Chen Jin will play against Darko Joczyk in the first round, Wang Chuqin will play against Francesca in the first round, Felix will play against Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun will play against Zhang Benzhihe..."

“Come on, Wang Chuqin, take revenge all at once!”

"Wang Chuqin, you are the best!"

"Happy table tennis, finish the game healthy! @王楚沁"

"Big head, big head, no worries about blocking, clean serve, I have a big head (funny.JPG)"

"You haters, do you know more about serving than the referee? Even the referee didn't say Wang Chuqin blocked the ball, but some referees slandered him everywhere."

"Chen Jin plays basketball, it's a top-notch enjoyment, much cleaner than Zha Wang."

"I, Daniel Wu, support Chen Jin with my real name, and kill the King of Mask!"

"Come on Chen Jin, support him in winning the championship!"

"Chen Jin, I hope you won't be satisfied with being the world's number one straight board. The world's number one is your ultimate goal. Come on, come on!"

"A five-time champion at the age of fifteen, ranked third in the world, this is truly a star from heaven! Think about a certain King of Cover who looks fifteen but is actually seventeen, the contrast is too obvious."

"If Chen Jin wins the Fukuoka Finals and gets 1500 points, will he have a chance to become the world's number one?"

“It’s probably still a little bit off, but second place is a sure thing.”

"Fifteen years old, three months, and ranked second in the world... Such an achievement is unprecedented."

"Please be bold. Not only has there been no one before, but there will be no one after."

……

For the next two days, I went back and forth between these three points.

Kitakyushu City Gymnasium, where the world's top table tennis players gathered and prepared diligently.

The Chinese national table tennis team consists of five players.

Chen Jin and Lin Shidong served as each other's sparring partners, while Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan trained together.

However, Liang Jingkun would sometimes join Chen Jin and Lin Shidong.

Looking at the three people talking and laughing in a harmonious atmosphere, Wang Chuqin had a blank expression on his face, but a strange look flashed in his eyes.

During lunch.

While Chen Jin was choosing his own dishes, Wang Chuqin approached Lin Shidong with a plate in hand and said, "Xiao Shitou, would you like to practice basketball with me this afternoon?"

"Uh……"

Lin Shidong hesitated for a moment, "Well, boss, Chen Jin and I already have a training plan for this afternoon."

The implication is a polite refusal.

But Wang Chuqin still didn't give up: "I also want to practice backhand with you. You know, Lin Gaoyuan's backhand is not as good as yours..."

The words were not finished.

Suddenly, Lin Shidong pretended to cough twice and gave a look.

Wang Chuqin was slightly startled and looked back.

But he saw Lin Gaoyuan standing behind him, holding a plate in his hand and picking up food.

"Gao Yuan?"

Wang Chuqin felt a little guilty, his eyes flickered, and he didn't dare to look Lin Gaoyuan in the eye. He was worried that if Lin Gaoyuan heard what he said just now, it would be too embarrassing.

At the beginning, the words "He's not as explosive as you" made him and Fan Zhendong become estranged from each other.

It became a black spot for him.

And now, if I offend Lin Gaoyuan because of the same words, wouldn't I appear to be stupid and dumb?

"Big head."

Lin Gaoyuan raised his head and smiled at Wang Chuqin, "What are you and Xiao Shitou talking about?"

Fortunately I didn’t hear it!
Wang Chuqin breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head, "No, we didn't talk about anything."

At this moment.

Chen Jin walked over, unaware of what had just happened, and greeted with a smile: "Boss, Brother Yuan, I found an empty seat over there, want to join us?"

"it is good."

Lin Gaoyuan agreed without thinking.

Only Wang Chuqin managed a smile: "I haven't chosen anything yet, you guys go over first."

"Little Stone, you..."

Before he could finish his words, Lin Shidong said hurriedly, "I've already chosen. Let's go together."

In fact, based on his previous eating habits, the food on the plate was less than one-third full.

Immediately, the three of them walked side by side.

Only Wang Chuqin was left standing there alone, looking at the backs of the three people, with mixed feelings in his heart.

Training in the afternoon.

Chen Jin, Lin Shidong and Lin Gaoyuan gathered together, practicing ball and chatting and laughing.

As we all know, Lin Gaoyuan has a backhand skill called "General Drawing the Sword".

Although the range of motion is slightly larger, it is full of explosive power, and its power is no less than Lin Shidong's close-range explosion.

Chen Jin asked for advice humbly, and Lin Gaoyuan was generous in giving him guidance.

The three of them discussed and learned from each other.

Since then, Lin Gaoyuan never returned to Wang Chuqin.

"what's going on?"

Liang Jingkun, who was training with Wang Chuqin, kept glancing at the other side of the guide, "Lin Gaoyuan has been gone for so long, why hasn't he come back yet?"

"I still want him to come back and take my place."

"If he doesn't come back, how can I practice with Chen Jin?"

"We can't leave Big Head alone, can we?"

Seeing that Liang Jingkun was obviously in Cao's camp but his heart was with Han, the expression on Wang Chuqin's face, which was full of pits, became increasingly ugly.

……

11 month 20 day.

Local time, 3:50 p.m.

Chen Jin's first round opponent is Darko Jockey.

As early as the Lima Regular Challenge, Chen Jin had fought against Darko Jockey once.

At that time, Chen Jin swept Darko Jockey with a big score of 4:0 and won the first WTT championship in his life.

Three months later, the two met again on the field, and they couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

Especially for Dako, the mood was complicated.

"In Lima, when we first met, Chen Jin was just an unknown rookie."

Looking at the Chinese teenager standing in front of him again, Dako couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion, "In just less than three months, in the second match, he has already ranked third in the world and become the big devil that the world table tennis world is afraid of."

Recalling the situation in the Lima Regular Challenge, Daco, with the title of "European Triple Crown", was swept away by a teenager under the age of sixteen.

As soon as this incident spread to the European table tennis world, it immediately became a laughing stock.

Dako was extremely depressed and secretly swore in his heart that if he met Chen Jin next time, he would take revenge.

However, over the next two months, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

In the Macau Championship and BJ Grand Slam, Chen Jin was unstoppable and unstoppable. All the top players were defeated one after another.

The two championship tournaments in Montpellier and Frankfurt are the home courts of European table tennis.

Chen Jin was invincible and defeated a group of European masters to win the championship.

At this time, the European table tennis world just realized that Darko Jockey was the hidden table tennis master.

After all, in Lima, although Daco was swept by Chen Jin, in the second game, he was once ahead in the score and forced Chen Jin into a desperate situation.

Based on this point alone, Dako's performance is already better than many people.

Even Daco himself did not expect that three months later, his fame and reputation in the European table tennis world would soar because of Chen Jin.

Of course, Dako knew very well that the Lima Regular Challenge was Chen Jin's first international competition, so it was normal that he was not very adaptable.

The reason why he was able to achieve such an incredible score of 8:11 with Chen Jin was purely because of luck.

Today, Chen Jin has gone through several major competitions and his skills have improved a lot, and he is no longer the same as before.

If they fight again, I'm afraid I'll be badly beaten by Chen Jin in this match.

As early as when the draw results came out, Dako had already prepared himself mentally to lose.

"But even if I die, I will fight to the death like a Spartan warrior!"

Dako pulled himself together, a gleam of light flashing in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)