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

Chapter 61 [061] Qualification for the Macau Championship
The sparring warm-up is over.

Zhang Jiahao and Ding Xiaowei picked up towels and wiped the sweat off their face.

The first overtime game is about to begin.

The two men had serious expressions as they pondered their respective fighting strategies.

Compared with the best-of-seven format, the best-of-three tiebreaker has too low a margin for error.

Every ball must be treated with caution.

Chen Jin took a deep breath, sorted out his thoughts, and was about to watch the game seriously.

Suddenly, someone patted his shoulders gently from behind.

Looking back in shock.

What caught my eye was Wang Hao's wrinkled smiling face.

"That was a good fight just now."

Wang Hao smiled and praised, "Coach Liu wants to meet you and talk to you."

"Coach Liu?"

Chen Jin turned his head and looked.

But he saw Liu Guoliang, Li Suo, Ma Lin, Wang Liqin and others standing not far away, looking at him with a smile.

"it is good."

Chen Jin put down the towel in his hand and walked over with Wang Hao.

But seeing Wang Hao holding Chen Jin's shoulders and behaving in a friendly manner, Ouyang Liangqin and others were envious and almost drooled: "When can I get such treatment and be personally received by several bigwigs of the national table tennis team?"

Looking Chen Jin up and down, I saw that he had delicate features and a shallow dimple on his left cheek when he smiled. He looked clean and sunny, as if he was harmless.

He is completely different from the ferocious and fierce player he is on the court.

Liu Guoliang was all smiles, his eyes full of admiration: "Chen Jin, right? I just watched your game. You had clear ideas and played aggressively. You played well."

"Our national table tennis team has finally produced another straight-blade genius."

Facing several national table tennis masters, Chen Jin was neither humble nor overbearing, and was not at all restrained: "Thank you, Coach Liu."

"The Lima race is a rare opportunity, keep going."

Liu Guoliang smiled and said, "I will try to win another championship."

In fact, everyone at the scene could hear that Liu Guoliang's words were just to motivate Chen Jin.

"Winning the championship in Lima? That's not easy."

Wang Hao smiled and said, "Francesca and Darko Jockey are both top players from Europe. As the top seed and second seed in Lima, one is ranked ninth in the world, and the other is ranked sixth in the world."

Although world rankings are sometimes unreliable.

The first place is often an upset.

However, judging from the past records of Francesca and Darko Jockeyk, they are definitely opponents that cannot be underestimated in the foreign association.

As a German strongman, Francesca defeated Fan Zhendong and won the runner-up in the Saudi Grand Slam in May.

Several main players of the Chinese national table tennis team, including Ma Taki, Xu Xin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, have all been defeated by Francesca.

And Darko Joczyk, the triple champion of the European Round of 16, defeated Tomokazu Harimoto in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics.

This man was known as the "backhand maniac". His backhand was so powerful that even Ma Taki praised him highly.

Although Japan has also sent many young players to participate in the Lima station competition, the favorites for the championship in this station are undoubtedly Francesca and Darko Jockey.

“The more masters there are, the higher the challenge, and the more you can hone your skills.”

Liu Guoliang said in a deep voice, "Chen Jin, do you have the confidence to win the championship in Lima?"

"Have!"

Chen Jin's voice was firm.

"very good."

Liu Guoliang said with a smile.

"Coach Liu."

Chen Jin thought about it, raised his head, and stared at Liu Guoliang, "If I win the Lima Championship, can I participate in the Macau Championship next month?"

This statement came out.

Not only Liu Guoliang, but everyone at the scene was stunned.

Wang Hao and Ma Lin looked at each other and frowned secretly.

Unexpectedly, Chen Jin dared to make such a request in front of Liu Guoliang.

As per convention, there are only thirty-two places available for the Macau Championship.

Generally speaking, players with higher world rankings will automatically qualify for the competition.

If someone withdraws, the next highest ranked player will take his/her place.

For a newcomer like Chen Jin who has just stepped into the national team, he has not even registered with the International Table Tennis Federation, let alone been ranked.

There is no qualification to participate in a competition of the level of the Macau Championship.

Of course, there are exceptions to everything.

If Chen Jin wants to participate, he must be invited by the organizer to compete as a wildcard player.

But many people are also eyeing this wild card spot.

After all, compared to the regular challenge competition, the championship competition not only has a higher level of competition, more participating masters, but also more generous rewards.

There was a pause.

Liu Guoliang looked at Chen Jin and asked, "Do you want to participate in the Macau Championship?"

"Ah."

Chen Jin nodded.

"You have to walk step by step. If you take too many steps, you'll easily get pulled."

Liu Guoliang smiled and said, "Let's talk about it after you win the Lima championship, okay?"

"Coach Liu, I will definitely win the Lima championship."

Chen Jin seemed to have made up his mind. "Please give me a chance to participate in the Macau Championship, even if it's just a wild card."

I know that Chen Jin's request is simply unreasonable.

Having just won a mere U16 trial championship, he dared to make demands to the head of the national table tennis team.

To put it nicely, this kind of behavior is like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger.

To put it bluntly, it means being ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth and making unreasonable demands.

Fearing that Chen Jin might anger Liu Guoliang, Wang Hao tugged at his arm: "Chen Jin, you are still young, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future..."

"Okay, I promise you."

To everyone's surprise, Liu Guoliang hesitated for a moment and actually agreed, "As long as you can win the Lima Championship, I will give you a chance to participate in the Macau Championship."

He knew very well that Lima Station had two external experts, Francesca and Darko Joczyk.

Chen Jin's strength is certainly enough to surpass that of his peers, but if he were to be placed in the world of table tennis, the situation would be different.

As long as Chen Jin can make it to the semi-finals, it will be considered a success.

It is almost impossible to win the championship.

Do you really think that Francesca and Darko Jockey's world rankings are exaggerated?
However, the reasons why Liu Guoliang promised Chen Jin were far more than just this.

Chen Jin knew very well that his request was indeed a bit excessive.

I originally just wanted to give it a try and worked hard for it, but I didn't expect that I would actually succeed.

I was overjoyed.

“This year?”

Chen Jin was worried that Liu Guoliang had discovered a bug, so he quickly made a patch.

"To be exact, it's the 9th of next month."

Liu Guoliang smiled.

"Thank you, Coach Liu."

Chen Jin was overjoyed, "Please also ask Coach Li, Director Wang, Coach Wang, and Coach Ma to be my witnesses."

Liu Guoliang laughed and scolded: "This kid is quite clever."

"Chen Jin."

Wang Hao smiled and said, "Did you bring extra clothes? You just finished the game, go change quickly, don't catch a cold."

"Yes."

Chen Jinfei also ran away.

Looking at Chen Jin's back as he left, Wang Hao turned to Liu Guoliang and said, "Coach Liu, are you really going to give Chen Jin a chance to compete in the Macau Championship? Young people are arrogant and proud, so it's better to let him gain more experience."

"I thought about it carefully, and it's not impossible."

Liu Guoliang crossed his arms and thought, "Wang Hao, what do you think is the chance of Chen Jin winning the Lima station?"

"Hard to say."

Wang Hao pondered and said, "The chance of winning is less than 10%."

"But what if he really wins the championship?"

Liu Guoliang said, "Then he must defeat Francesca and Darko Jockey."

"If Chen Jinlian can beat these two, it is not impossible to give him a chance to participate in the Macau Championship."

Wang Hao thought about it and it seemed that there was nothing wrong.

A boy of fifteen or sixteen years old, with no world ranking, was able to defeat foreign players with high world rankings.

What's wrong with rewarding him with the qualification to participate in a major competition?
Liu Guoliang continued, "Hasn't the outside world always been criticizing our echelon construction?"

"As long as Chen Jin really wins the Lima Championship, it means that his strength may be able to make it to the quarterfinals or even the semifinals of the Macau Championship. Then we can promote him..."

Hearing this, Wang Hao, Ma Lin and the others' pupils suddenly trembled, and they all fell silent.

after awhile.

Wang Hao then broke the silence: "Brother Li, where are you going?"

"To the restroom."

Wang Liqin didn't even turn his head.

　There is no need to say who the Macau Championship is for.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)