Ping Pong Life

Chapter 420 Before the competition, the secret battle comes first

In fact, there are more than 40 players in the first team and the second team of Huaping, forming a total of [-] combinations, which is more than the coaching staff expected, and some players who have not shown up for a long time also took advantage of this opportunity to emerge out of the water.

For example, the former cowhide king Hu Buming once signed up for the men's singles, but unfortunately died in the qualifiers and failed to enter the 12-man main match. Now that the men's doubles are free to register, he naturally came up again.

His partner was Qi Hao, whom Luo Jiu didn't find in the end, and they formed the "Firecrackers Blowing Together".

Qihao didn't pick anything either, because he didn't have any ambitions for doubles, as long as he had the ball to play, he could match with anyone, not to mention that Hu Buming was not only the first one who took the initiative to find him, but also gave him a gift when he came to the door: a The deluxe version of pork knuckle rice.

No one can refuse pork knuckle rice, if he can, then add an extra pork knuckle to make it a luxurious pork knuckle rice.

Another example was Fang Xiaobo, who hadn't planned to participate in any competitions, but was pulled back by Zou Zhengyu and formed a "Noah's Ark Team".

It can only be said that each name is louder than the other, but if you observe carefully, you will find that the combination with the louder the name is actually weaker.

Then the men's doubles officially started, and the knockout mode was adopted throughout the whole process, all the way to the end.

This competition system is a bit of a gamble on luck, far less serious than the two rounds of the men's singles cycle, but in fact this is exactly what the coaching staff intended. After all, the through competition is a commercial event, and some dramatic things are always needed to create gimmicks. Yes, the men's singles itself can't afford to lose, so of course we can't make fun of the competition system, but for the men's doubles, Sun Tianlong and Xiao Fei have already been assigned to take the lead, and the rest of the team can do whatever they want.

In one morning, the men's doubles played two rounds, and the final four came out. What surprised people was that the Tianluodiwang combination that was originally intended to be played was still there.

This is of course due to Luo Jiu's strong strength, but the 12-year-old Wang Qin played really well, and his outstanding performance made many coaches shine.

In the afternoon, the semi-finals fought again, and the Tianluodiwang combination was finally defeated. It was the "Yangfan combination" formed by Lu Feiyang and Fan Xiaodong, a pair of peers who defeated them.

The other pair that entered the final was the "Red Star Combination" formed by Ma Angxing and Zhu Ding. Judging from the actual combat effect, Ma Angxing's support was really good. On the contrary, there were some problems with Zhu Ding's strange offensive methods. Dead, the scoring efficiency is slightly insufficient.

In fact, it can be seen from here that the Huaping men's team has indeed gradually entered the stage of changing dynasties.

The two groups that entered the final, four contestants, except for the 27-year-old Zhu Ding, the remaining three, one 18-year-old and two 15-year-old, are already pink and tender newcomers.

That's right, the combination of Sun Tianlong and Xiao Fei is still the best in the world, but after this year is over and the two officially retire next year, there will be no legend of the Feitian combination in the table tennis world. Who will be the future of Huaping's men's doubles It's hard to say now how to take the lead.

Cai Guodong's favorites are naturally Luo Jiu and Wang Chao. As Luo Jiu said, two players who also practice the "double-sided arc ball attack system without dead ends" fight side by side. , is really something that has never appeared in the world table tennis world, the sense of anticipation is exploding, okay?
However, Wang Chao's singles and mixed doubles are also indispensable, so, does it have to be that he can do all three?

Maybe in the future, but absolutely not now, Wang Chao has to continue to exercise.

Because of this, Cai Guodong couldn't help paying more attention to the combination of Lu Feiyang and Fan Xiaodong.

In the end, the two teenagers lived up to expectations and defeated Zhu Ding and Ma Angxing 4:2 in the final, qualifying for the men's doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships.

This is probably the youngest pair of men's doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships in the history of Huaping. As long as they continue to match, they may not be able to become the next flying combination in the future.

The subsequent women's doubles was skipped.

After the women's doubles is over, it's time for the highlight of the doubles event: mixed doubles.

Compared with the men's doubles, the mixed doubles is much more formal, because when the news came that the mixed doubles entered the Olympics, Huaping itself had more than one team.

The current strongest mixed doubles team is naturally the Tang Dynasty combination of Wang Chao and Tang Yuanyuan. This pair was directly selected by the coaching staff and does not need to participate in the competition.

As for the other two teams that escorted the Tang Dynasty team, Lu Feiyang and Shensha's Flying Sand combination, Gao Mingyuan and Wang Yu's Pluto combination, there is no doubt that they signed up for the competition.

Liu Wen took the initiative to find Xiao Fei in private, and wanted to participate in the mixed doubles selection as a rumored team. She is not as Buddhist as Xiao Fei. Although the Olympic mixed doubles quota is gone, she still wants to fight for the World Table Tennis Championships mixed doubles gold medal.

However, Xiao Fei did not agree, instead he enthusiastically sold her a new partner.

"The disciple I just recruited, Wang Qin, played pretty well. The men's doubles entered the semi-finals. He partnered with Luo Jiu and wiped out Zou Zhengyu and Fang Xiaobo. This should be convincing enough, right?"

"Believe me, if you try to partner with him, at least you won't have a problem getting into the semi-finals."

"Take your little brother with you."

Liu Wen didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and wanted to curse, but she had a good temper, and after Xiao Fei's stalking, she actually nodded in agreement.

So in the mixed doubles field, the coaches saw Wang Qin, who was only 12 years old.

Facts have proved that the disciple Wang Chao chose for Xiao Fei was really good. After the mixed doubles match, Liu Wen and Wang Qin really went through two consecutive rounds and reached the top five.

If you want to ask why it is not the semi-finals, this is because there are 17 groups in total for mixed doubles registration. According to the principle of fighting against each other, there is a group of byes in the first round, forming 17 to 9, and another group of byes in the second round, forming 9 to 5 .

In the third round of lottery, Liu Wen and Wang Qin happened to have a bye, so the pair with the biggest age difference managed to enter the top three.

But that's it.

The other two of the top three are expected by everyone. They are Feisha and Pluto, who once escorted the Tang Dynasty combination.

There is still a huge gap between those who have practiced and those who have temporarily formed a team.

The top three adopt a round-robin competition system, which combination wins two wins first, and which combination will qualify for the World Table Tennis Championships.

In the end, it was Lu Feiyang and Shen Sha who had the better skills, and won the 4:3 head-to-head confrontation with Gao Mingyuan and Wang Yu, and got the last ticket to Budapest, Hungary.

So far, all the matches of the 12-man direct competition on the surface have come to an end, and the Chinese table tennis team has returned to the imperial capital from Pengcheng, Guangdong Province, and started the last team training before the World Table Tennis Championships.

On the morning of September 9, Luo Jiu knocked on the door of Cai Guodong's office: "Head coach, I'm applying to participate in the Portuguese Open two days later."

Cai Guodong was stunned: "Why?"

The time of the Portuguese Open is exactly between the surface 12-man direct match and the World Table Tennis Championships. A consensus has been reached before that no players will be sent to participate in the Open.

In fact, because the three major competitions are imminent, not many people in the whole world will participate in this open competition. As long as there are some famous players, they will focus on the three major competitions. Only those who are not qualified to play major competitions Middle and low-level players will go to the Portuguese Open to increase their knowledge and try to mix up their rankings.

But now Luo Jiu said he was going.

This creates many complex issues.

The system of Huaping is different from that of any foreign associations, because it implements a national system, so all the international competitions of athletes are arranged by specialized staff, who arrange board and lodging, schedules, receptions, arrangements Training, arrange all matters related to the competition, create the best conditions for the athletes, so that the athletes can concentrate on training without distraction.

But just because of all the public funds and a mature, huge, and complete logistics support system, this system can never serve only one person, let alone be turned around because of an athlete's application.

"I just need your help to book air tickets and hotels, because I really have no way to book a flight tonight..." Luo Jiu said with a smile: "That... I understand the rules, I will not occupy public resources , I will participate at my own expense."

Cai Guodong opened his mouth, originally he had many questions to ask, but he seemed to think of something, so he didn't say more, just looked at him deeply, nodded and said: "Okay."

On the evening of September 9, Luo Jiu quietly left the bustling Huaping Base, carrying a small backpack, and embarked on a long journey to Portugal alone.

On the afternoon of September 9, the draw ceremony for the Portuguese Open was held. When the entry list was officially announced, it aroused all kinds of intense emotions from many people in the foreign association.

"Is Hua Ping a bit deceptive?"

"No, it should be said that Luo Jiu deceived people too much."

"Do you really think you are invincible? You actually participated in the Portuguese Open alone."

"He just won the men's singles championship in the direct competition held in Huaping a few days ago. He will participate in the World Table Tennis Championships at the end of next month, but he still has to find time to come here in his busy schedule. He really thinks this gold medal is just a bag. Is it average?"

"Is he not afraid that his preparation for the World Table Tennis Championships will be affected by his preparation for this Open?"

"Who can tell me, what is he thinking?"

Perhaps in order to answer questions that have been asked countless times on foreign forums, on the next day, on the morning of September 9, the day of the race, Luo Jiu accepted an interview with foreign media, and blatantly stated in the interview that : "Yes, I'm here to win the championship."

He smiled and said, "Whether you believe it or not, whether you support me or oppose me, whether you are angry or happy, in short, I have won the gold medal."

Luo Jiu's character is very out of character, and his image in the eyes of fans all over the world is mostly like a comedian. Last year, the sentence "Heaven was not born to me, Luo Xiaojiu, raw rubber is like a long night" was even regarded as humorous on the Internet The joke has been passed on for a long time, but this time, although he was still smiling, there was no smile in his eyes. He looked very serious, serious, and even murderous, as if he was going to kill in the open competition.

So Qin Huachang, who broadcast live on time that morning, was asked this question by countless people in the live broadcast room.

"What exactly does Luo Jiu want to do?"

"The Chinese National Table Tennis Association has never had such a thing happen in decades, and even sent a person to participate in the Open. Excuse me, is this a new attempt by the head coach Cai Guodong?"

"Or, is there any secret in this Portuguese Open that we don't know?"

"Or, Luo Jiu is just one point away from winning the Portuguese Open, so he can rise up one place in the world leaderboard?"

After understanding the ins and outs, Qin Huachang couldn't help laughing, shook his head and said, "You guys think too complicated."

He said: "You are right. Huaping has never had such a thing before. Therefore, it is obvious that Luo Jiu's participation in the Portuguese Open must have applied to head coach Cai Guodong alone, and it was definitely a temporary idea. In other words , at the Brazilian Open in August, he didn't think about it at all."

"So what happened after the Brazil Open that made him change his mind?"

"Obviously, there is only one thing, and that is that he has defeated Wang Chao twice in the through match of the strongest 12 on the surface. And in the next World Table Tennis Championships, he also hopes to beat Wang Chao."

"But he didn't have enough confidence."

"Because he knows that although Wang Chao lost in the through match, he may not be defeated on the stage of the World Table Tennis Championships."

"Luo Jiu knows very well that when facing a player like Wang Chao, no matter how cautious he is, he can't be too cautious."

"He has heard a piece of news that you probably don't know, so let me tell you now: Red Shuangli is stepping up to make his exclusive custom-made racket for Wang Chao. done before."

"In other words, Wang Chao originally chose to customize the racket at this time for the World Table Tennis Championships."

"So Wang Chao in the World Table Tennis Championships must be much better than Wang Chao in the through competition."

"So, Luo Jiu needs to give herself more confidence."

"He thought about it, and the only way to continue to give himself confidence is to win a gold medal before the World Table Tennis Championships."

"He's building momentum."

"Winning Wang Chao once in the through race is his starting momentum, and winning Wang Chao twice is his momentum, and now going to Portugal to win the gold medal is to push his momentum to the top and achieve the strongest self-confidence. peak, and then..."

Qin Huachang made a slashing action with one palm against the screen, which actually made many viewers watching the live broadcast feel their scalps tingle: "By using this invincible momentum, I won three victories against Wang Chao in one go, and won the World Table Tennis Championship."

At this moment, the barrage began to refresh crazily. This kind of secret battle between masters calculating each other before the battle and trying to increase the winning rate, when you don’t understand it, you just feel inexplicable. The peak, giving them a feeling of extreme anticipation.

"What if Luo Jiu doesn't win the championship?" Qin Huachang read a barrage, and then smiled: "If you don't get it, of course your momentum will be interrupted, your confidence will be lost, and you will lose early before the World Table Tennis Championships." Here we come."

"So he himself is fighting with his back, putting himself to death and surviving. Otherwise, why would he want to be interviewed, and why would he say such brazen words? He just wants to push himself to the point where there is no way out. Only in this way can he burst out Bring out the strongest fighting power."

"So, he must be playing really crazy."

The following events proved Qin Huachang's inference.

Luo Jiu played crazily, with zero seals in every game, and big scores in every game. His whole body seemed to be on fire, and his state was amazingly hot. After every game, fans all over the world exclaimed.

It is worth mentioning that Hook participated in the Open this time.

In fact, Hook was instigated, because he did not participate in the Brazilian Open, and during the Portuguese Open, the officials of the Brazilian Table Tennis Association called him countless times: "You just go and participate, please. Please, isn’t a gold medal in the Open worth your trip? You can go, don’t worry, there won’t be any masters participating in this Open, as long as you go, you can win the championship. This kind of good thing is like It’s like falling from the sky, if you don’t hurry up, it will be gone. There will be no World Table Tennis Championships and no Olympic Games next year, and next year there will be no such competition where you can win the championship just by participating.”

Hook was finally persuaded, but after he went, he realized that although most of the world's masters hadn't come, the only one who came couldn't beat him...

Luo Jiu and Hu Ke finally met in the final, and then Luo Jiu directly sent Hu Ke a 4:0.

After the game, even Hook himself felt a little shocked. He said in an interview: "I am teammates with Luo Jiu in the Hua Guoping Super League. We have played together many times. Recently, I have been unable to beat him. But I still didn’t expect that he could beat me 4:0, I can only say that his state is really scary, if he can maintain this state until the World Table Tennis Championships, I’m afraid no one will be his opponent.”

On September 9th, Luo Jiu returned with the glory of the men's singles gold medal in the Portuguese Open, and returned to the Huaping Base. He had no time to celebrate, and plunged into the closed training camp at the base in full swing.

Also on this day, Wang Chao got his custom-made racket.

"Give him a name." The person on the other side of the red double carp said to Wang Chao: "If you want, we can make the same model of this racket and sell it on the market, and we will also pay you a considerable sum of money for naming it. fee."

Of course Wang Chao would not object.

Because this is the practice of Huaping national team players customizing rackets over the years.

Racquet styles named after players' names have been selling well over the years. For example, Super Luo, which Wang Chao played for a long time, was actually named after Luo Jiu.

Under Red Shuangli, there are actually two major categories of products, one is the Super Series and the other is the Hurricane Series, both of which have been co-branded by many athletes.

For example, Sun Tianlong's Cyclonus Dragon, Jin Ling's Cyclonus Spirit, and Lin Li's Cyclonus Li.

Another example is Luo Jiu's Super Luo, Bai Feng's Super Peak, and Xiao Fei's Super Fei.

Although there is no customary rule, but coincidentally, the Qin Clan basically chose the Hurricane series as the title, while the Zhu Clan basically chose the Super series as the title.

Therefore, Wang Chao's racket should actually be named "Super King".

But Wang Chao felt that the name was too ugly. After thinking for a long time, he decided to name this racket "Superconductor".

Superconductor is a physical term, which refers to a material that exhibits the characteristic of zero resistance under certain conditions. Wang Chao chose this name to say that holding this racket in his hand, there is no barrier between him and himself, and he can achieve real It is like using your arms and fingers, swaying freely, and perfectly showing everything you want to type.

Red Shuangli finally adopted Wang Chao's proposal, because they also thought the name was pretty cool. At the same time, the existence of the word "超" could still allow it to be included in their own brand's super series.

But what they didn't expect was that this racket had another name after it was sold: overload.

This racket is too difficult to use. Its underlying frame is Super Luo. Super Luo itself is a racket that emphasizes friction very much. A racket has become a bit anti-human, at least amateur players don't want to understand it at all, even for professional players, it is at least a few months difficult to get started, which makes those die-hard fans of Wang Chao feel that they can't use the racket after buying it. Over time, the game got worse and worse, and in the end I had to put away my love for Wang Chao and change to another racket.

And this piece of superconductor has become something that can only be collected but not used. Its final sales are not good, which hurts Red Shuangli very much.

Fans jokingly call it "overload", which means that it is too difficult to use, and they can't bear it at all, and the load is seriously overloaded.

Five days after Wang Chao got the racket, the Chinese table tennis team left the base again in a mighty way, and boarded a plane to Budapest, Hungary. There were hundreds of players, coaches, staff, support staff, and training partners. It can be described as grand in scale.

The World Table Tennis Championships, which has been warming up for a full month, has finally really kicked off.

(End of this chapter)