In the history of national table tennis, there have been many outstanding athletes. So far, a total of four Chinese men's table tennis players have won Grand Slam honors. They are Liu Guoliang , Kong Linghui , Zhang Jike and Malone .
In fact, after Liu Guoliang Kong Linghui and before Zhang Jike Malong, there was a period of two kings and one horse in Chinese men's tennis for more than ten years. The three of them jointly won most of the world championships and won countless championships for the country. The honor, but the three also restrict each other, and none of them have completed the achievement of the Grand Slam.
The so-called "Era of Two Kings and One Horse" refers to three athletes: Wang Liqin , Wang Hao and Ma Lin .
Among them, Wang Hao is the youngest of the three. Wang Hao won one World Table Tennis Championship and three World Cup singles championships in his career, but he missed an Olympic singles championship and missed the Grand Slam.
Wang Hao has participated in the Olympic singles competition three times, but unfortunately, Wang Hao reached the finals in three consecutive Olympic Games, but he lost three games and won three runners-up.
For Wang Hao, the Olympic singles champion is so close and yet so far.
Let's take stock of Wang Hao's three Olympic trips.
First Olympic Games: Athens 2004.
At the Athens Olympic Games, Wang Hao was only 21 years old at that time and was the No. 3 main player of the Chinese men's table tennis team. However, Wang Hao's performance in the Athens Olympic Games was very good. The second seed Ma Lin lost to Waldner early and was eliminated. This led to the loss of the second half.
While Wang Hao and Wang Liqin played stably, they successfully reached the men's singles semi-final at the Athens Olympics.
In the semi-finals, Wang Hao faced Wang Liqin. Before that, Wang Liqin could be said to be Wang Hao's nemesis, having won a ten-game winning streak against Wang Hao. However, in the men's singles semi-final at the Athens Olympics, Wang Hao did play the better one. Wang Hao defeated Wang Liqin 4-1 and successfully advanced to the men's singles final.
This semi-final is also believed by many fans that Wang Liqin was forced to give the ball to Wang Hao in the semi-final, because Wang Hao had previously maintained an unbeaten record of six games against Liu Chengmin , while Wang Liqin was in the In the 2003 year-end finals, he lost to Liu Chengmin, and the coaching staff worried that if Wang Liqin entered the final, he would lose to Liu Chengmin again.
Of course, such suspicion has not been confirmed by the parties so far.
After Wang Hao advanced to the final, he faced South Korean player Ryu Seungmin. Before the match, many people were more optimistic that Wang Hao would win the championship. The enemy Liu Chengmin, Chinese men's table tennis lost the most important men's singles championship.
The second Olympic Games: the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Wang Hao ranked first in the world at that time and was the number one seed of the Beijing Olympic Games. Before the game, Wang Hao was also recognized as the biggest favorite to win the men's singles title at the Beijing Olympics.
As a result, Wang Hao met Ma Lin in the final, and Ma Lin defeated Wang Liqin 4-2 in the semi-final.
In the match between Wang Hao and Ma Lin, Wang Hao was obviously under the psychological pressure of wanting to win and being afraid of losing. On the other hand, Ma Lin played more freely. In the end, Wang Hao lost to Ma Lin with a score of 1-4, and once again won the Olympic men's Single runner-up.
Third Olympics: London 2012.
This is Wang Hao's third Olympic trip, and he is also the only Chinese men's tennis player who has participated in the Olympic singles for three consecutive times.
This time, the young player Zhang Jike is competing with Wang Hao.
Wang Hao made it all the way to the final, and his opponent in the final was Zhang Jike.
At this time, Wang Hao is already 29 years old. In the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Cup a year before the London Olympics, Wang Hao has lost to Zhang Jike twice in a row. In terms of technology and tactics, Zhang Jike has the advantage. Moreover, in terms of age and physical strength On the one hand, Wang Hao is indeed difficult to match with Zhang Jike.
Sure enough, in the men's singles final, although Wang Hao played very hard. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't resist the sharp attack of the younger generation Zhang Jike. In the end, Wang Hao was defeated by Zhang Jike with a score of 18:16, 11:5, 11:6, 10:12, 13:11 and missed the championship. For the third time, he lost in the men's singles final at the Olympic Games.
Participated in the Olympic Games three times in his career and won the runner-up in the Olympic Games three times in a row. This is indeed cruel to Wang Hao.
After Wang Hao retired, he is now a head coach of the Chinese men's table tennis team. The head coach is Fan Zhendong, a young athlete who once belonged to the Bayi team.
Today's Fan Zhendong ranks first in the world and is also a popular candidate to win the singles title at the Tokyo Olympics.
Fan Zhendong wants to win the Tokyo Olympics, and his biggest opponent is veteran Ma Long. In addition, Japan's Zhang Benzhi and and Chinese Taipei's Lin Yunru , Fan Zhendong needs to be vigilant.
Fan Zhendong now has four World Cup singles champions in his hands. If he wants to achieve a Grand Slam, he needs to play well in the Tokyo Olympics, and then he has to win the World Table Tennis Championships.
At the Tokyo Olympics, can Fan Zhendong win the men's singles championship and make up for Wang Hao's regret?
Let's wait and see.
