157 Riyadh World Games

◎We must regain the half of the bracket we lost in the last World Games!◎

As the world's wealth eye, Saudi Arabia hosted the World Games as the host. The national team members felt the aura of wealth as soon as they landed.

Gold-plated colors are predominant everywhere, and crystal tassels are hung on the hanging chandelier, which reacts with the light to create a dazzling and gorgeous feeling.

Many of the people I met were wearing classic Arab clothing, long robes made of cotton or gauze, and white hats or turbans on their heads.

Women basically wear gauze head coverings and some beautiful pearl or gold clothing.

When they walk, there is a crisp sound of jewelry colliding, and just listening to the sound gives people a sense of nobility and grace.

Ah Shui followed behind Zhu Qi and Maomao, whispering, "Wow, they are so beautiful!"

Arab girls have deep eye sockets, straight noses and wheat-colored skin, and their outfits full of regional characteristics make them eye-catching.

Although Lulu had shown off her national costume during national team training before, she still looked a little different from the Saudis. This might be because Saudi Arabia's economy is much better than Pakistan's in all aspects.

This isn't limited to Saudi Arabia. Before the Great Powers launched the Afghan War, Iraq and Syria both enjoyed relatively strong economies. Furthermore, the Middle East is a region steeped in extreme religious beliefs, and those at the bottom, hampered by their religious beliefs, could never overthrow those at the top.

The ancestors of the Saudi royal family were quite capable. They first unified the center of the Middle East and then established their own royal religious status. With their sharp foresight, they always chose the right side.

Before World War II, everyone thought that the British Empire was the best in the world, but Saudi Arabia turned directly to the United States and became its ally first, then turned to the Soviet Union, and later became the best in China and acquired Dongfeng Express.

The main thing is that the top three people are all on good terms with me, and I don’t offend anyone.

In this way, the Saudi family, which has a large amount of international wealth, has become the world's wealth eye by relying on "interpersonal relationships".

Da Piaoliang made trouble in all the countries around Saudi Arabia, but did not dare to touch Saudi Arabia.

Saudi os: Choice is always more important than hard work.

But for Asians, they appreciate the looks of Middle Eastern women, but for men...

Ah Shui touched his face and asked curiously, "Why do these Saudis like to grow beards so much? Almost half of their face is covered with beard. They look so fierce."

"They think men like this are more manly. Different places have different aesthetic standards. You see, they are looking at us curiously. They are probably wondering why Chinese men don't have beards." Zhu Qi smiled and followed Maomao towards the boarding gate.

I have seen many Middle Eastern people in previous competitions, but they were all wearing competition uniforms. This is my first time to come to Saudi Arabia to participate in a competition and see many local ethnic costumes and customs.

In fact, Saudi Arabia does not pay much attention to sports development. They are purely trying to catch up with the world cooperation trend. After all, hosting the World Games, which is a loss-making but publicity-generating thing, is nothing to these rich gentlemen.

And as if to show off their financial strength, the organizers specially prepared hundreds of special cars to pick up the passengers and wait at the airport gate.

Although it has not reached the point where Maseratis are everywhere, it is enough to give the world a small shock of wealth.

As soon as he got on the bus, Zhu Qi smelled the wonderful scent of sandalwood in the car, which seemed to be the aroma prepared in advance to welcome guests.

The smell is especially like entering a temple, with a pious and sacred atmosphere lingering around everyone.

Zhu Qi believes that the Middle Eastern people's love for burning incense is likely an extension of the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty.

The whole world is a huge China.

The entire carriage could only accommodate about twenty people, so the Chinese team had to go to the hotel in three groups.

There were fewer people in the third group, so in order to save space, we had to sit with other teams.

The organizers thought that since Zhugang had returned, they put the Zhugang team members together with the third batch of Chinese team players.

Coincidentally, in order to reflect the idea that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family, Ren Xinhua called the men's team over.

The entire car was filled with men with Asian faces, but they were sitting in the front and back rows, one on the left and one on the right. Each of them was wearing two completely different colored sportswear, one red and one blue.

One is a team that was specially authorized to participate in world competitions under the name of a local team after returning, and the other is a team of champions that shines in major world competitions.

Fat Tiger has been away from the national team for almost eight years.

He is the same age as Song Linzhou, and they were promoted from the second national team to the first national team together.

Because he made a mistake, he was sent back to the provincial team by the national team. In order to continue playing in the game, he came to the Hong Kong team, but at this moment the identities of the two sides are very different.

Song Linzhou sat in the front row, talking with Daxiong about the competition.

Although he will not participate in the men's doubles this time, he has not played mixed doubles with Zhu Qi much throughout the Riyadh cycle, and has been accompanying Qin Xiaoba to practice men's doubles.

At the beginning, everyone thought that this time in Riyadh, Song Linzhou and Qin Xiaoba might form a men's doubles team, and Qin Xiaoba and A Shui would form a mixed doubles team.

But no one expected that Ren Xinhua would bring out the Moscow All-Star lineup again with almost no changes.

Fat Tiger guessed that the reason why Ren Xinhua didn't let Maomao and A Shui play in the women's doubles was probably because the rumors outside were true and Maomao's body could no longer bear it.

In the Hong Kong team, Fat Tiger was trained as a main combat force. Although he had made progress compared to when he was in the national team, but looking at Song Linzhou who was sitting in the front of the car with a calm demeanor... Fat Tiger felt that Song Linzhou was also no longer the same as before.

This is the first time that the Hong Kong team has participated in a world-class competition since its return to China. The coaches of the Hong Kong team also attach great importance to it and have provided a complete set of training camps benchmarked against the national team for Mori Yunan and Fat Tiger who will participate in the men's singles this time.

During the training camp, a series of response exercises were carried out for the starting roster. The coaches of the Hong Kong team felt that in the entire men's singles competition, only the Japanese team's Kazuto Matsukaze and the two main men's singles players of the Chinese team were obstacles for Mori Yunan to win the gold medal.

Among them, Song Linzhou is particularly important.

During the last practice match of the national team, Mori Yunan felt how difficult Song Linzhou was.

Song Linzhou's playing style is not the most eye-catching in the entire table tennis world.

She is not as unique as Zhu Qi or Daxiong, who have some killer moves that are sure to score as long as they release the ball, making everyone exclaim, "Ah, only she can hit a ball like this."

Therefore, many outsourcing companies will focus on the big bear that seems to be more lethal.

But only those who have fought with Song Linzhou will know what the top-level face-to-face torture is, which is to never score against him.

There is a club in Germany, which is said to be full of fans of Song Linzhou.

When the Hong Kong team was doing activities outside before, they also had academic exchanges with the German Table Tennis Association Club. When the Germans talked about the characteristics of the players of the Chinese team, they discussed the mixed doubles combination of Qilin.

They said: "Song Linzhou is the rope on the gallows, and Zhu Qi is the one holding the rope."

Can a rope that is not held still be lethal?

Mori Yunan turned his head and looked out the window.

He knew a long time ago that as long as he and Song Linzhou stayed in this circle, they would meet on the field sooner or later.

The previous training match with the national team was not completed.

The results are unknown.

This time I finally have the chance.

/

Only after entering the World Games Village did Zhu Qi understand what it meant to be wealthy.

Every hour, a waiter will push a cart and deliver various snacks and desserts door to door.

Every time they were brought in like a small mountain, from biscuits and chocolates on the top, to various drinks underneath, and the bottom layer was a mixture of rice, meat, sauces, and vegetables, which smelled of curry and was similar to Chinese rice.

Even the cheese tea comes in seven flavors.

Ah Shui likes sweets, so he just wanted some snacks and milk tea. However, the man brought in a whole cart of food, and then said something in incomprehensible Arabic, probably something like "enjoy your meal".

There were only three people in the suite, but the entire "pastry tower" looked like it could accommodate at least ten people.

The cat tasted a small yellow biscuit and said with emotion, "It's delicious."

Zhu Qi also ate a piece and found that it was filled with plenty of fresh milk and butter, so it melted in his mouth.

"How can I eat this without chopsticks and a spoon?" Ah Shui was also very greedy. He had been on the road for almost a whole day before reaching the hotel. After taking a rest to get over the nausea from motion sickness, he began to feel hungry.

Maomao rummaged around and pulled out a few pairs of plastic gloves from his bag.

Chinese people who have never put down their chopsticks tried eating with gloves, but later found that they would accidentally bite the plastic gloves, and because the gloves were of poor quality, the soup would end up on their fingers.

They simply ate it with their hands.

The three of them moved the things to the coffee table, and when they found that the entire coffee table was almost full of space for the plates, they had to move two more stools to support the table.

As Shui grabbed the food with his hands, he muttered, "I feel like an unevolved barbarian. Why don't these Arabs use tableware when they eat? They must be saving wood, right?"

When Lulu was training with the national team, she didn’t know how to use chopsticks at first, but A Shui taught her step by step until she became very proficient in it.

Zhu Qi was also a little uncomfortable with it. She was a bit of a germaphobe. After eating a piece of meat, she wanted to wipe her hands, then pick up another piece and wipe her hands again. She ate for a long time and ended up eating only a few pieces of meat.

Many people are not used to using tableware from other countries. Every time Zhu Qi went to Europe to dine, he felt uncomfortable using their knives and forks, and many times he had to bring his own tableware outside.

But I don’t know if it’s because the Buddha is old, but he always forgets things. Before Mao Mao boarded the plane, he reminded him to bring enough tableware for everyone, but he still forgot.

"It's delicious, but a little too greasy." Ah Shui grabbed a few bites, not quite used to this way of eating, and burped. "It would be nice to have some refreshing iced wine to go with it. This cheese tea is so sweet."

"They don't have wine or pork here, so we can only drink this sweet tea," said Maomao.

A few people hesitated for a long time and finally took a few bites.

Later, when Sasa and Youyou passed by and dragged Xiao Lingdang over to eat together, they found a few small plastic spoons in Xiao Lingdang's bag.

While eating, Maomao assigned training plans to several people.

"This time, Youyou will team up with Ashui in the men's doubles, and Zuo Zuo and Xiao Lingdang will be their sparring partners."

Youyou and Ashui nodded.

Little Bell blinked and asked, "What about Sister Bao Bao?"

Maomao looked at Zhu Qi and said, "I'm only playing women's singles and mixed team this time. There's a long break in between, so I'll practice with you during this time."

Zhu Qi nodded: "Okay."

Maomao is participating in the World Games this time with the goal of "revenge".

We must regain the half of the zone that we lost in the last World Games!

But when Maomao stood up and prepared to hand over the training plan to the coaches, his face suddenly turned pale and he sat back down...