90 Moscow World Games - Mixed Doubles

◎This is a doubles match.◎

After listening to Qin Xiaoba's explanation, Ah Shui was still a little confused. He pointed at the concave part in the middle of the violin racket and asked, "Why are there two pieces missing here?"

Qin Xiaoba said, "You're stupid! The International Table Tennis Federation has requirements for the size, length, and width of a racket. If you want to increase the area at the top, you have to 'give up' some space elsewhere. The middle of the racket is basically unused for some horizontal players, so they just cut it out."

The other people seemed to understand what he said.

Ren Xinhua observed the competition and, judging from their performance in the quarterfinals, the reason why Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou played so smoothly might be because they were a right-handed pairing.

Since the last World Games, the outsourcing teams seemed to have discovered the benefits of using both hands, but it was too late to temporarily train the left hand.

Huang Jiajia and Mori Yunan of the Hong Kong team are both right-handed, and during the game they had to dodge their bodies because of the forward strokes.

So in the sixth game, Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou used the chasing ball tactic, which was able to effectively restrain the two players of the Hong Kong team and score frequently.

But tomorrow we will face the North Korean team, and Xi Lingen's male partner is also left-handed.

"Since we're both right-handed, we need to work on our serve selection." Ren Xinhua thought for a moment, then pointed at Song Linzhou. "Tomorrow in our match against North Korea, try to get the ball as much as possible. You'll be responsible for receiving the ball from the North Korean male players, and Baobao will receive the ball from Xi Ling'en."

Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou nodded.

Gao Xiaofeng was a little confused and asked, "The other male player is using a 'violin' racket, obviously a player who relies on spin. Daling uses a straight racket..."

Ren Xinhua explained, "Although Da Ling uses a penholder, didn't he play very well against Japan's Matsukaze Ichito at the Zhuhai-Hong Kong Table Tennis Tournament? This shows that Da Ling's penholder backhand strokes have really taken off. Not only can he catch high-spin loops, but he can also capitalize on the flexibility of his penholders. There are a lot of players on our team who have started practicing loops, but few can beat Da Ling, right?"

The reason why Zhu Qi was asked to receive the ball from Xi Ling'en was because Zhu Qi had played against Xi Ling'en before and had more experience against Xi Ling'en's anti-arc rubber.

Xi Ling'en, like A Shui, is a reverse shot player. Zhu Qi and A Shui have known each other for such a long time, so naturally he is more familiar with this technique.

"You two had a hard time in the quarterfinals because the Hong Kong team targeted Bao Bao and Da Ling when selecting their receivers. If you had received the serve properly, you could have made different tactical adjustments." After Ren Xinhua finished speaking, the others understood.

Although Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou were positioned as "double attackers" in the mixed doubles at the beginning.

But in fact, because Zhu Qi's playing style is more aggressive, Zhu Qi is actually more offensive when the game actually starts.

Song Linzhou was guarding in the middle and far distance, either passing the ball to Zhu Qi or looking for opportunities to rebound.

But in reality, one of the two people must take the lead and the other must cooperate to achieve the effect of one plus one being greater than two.

"In the Hong Kong team, Mori Yunan is the main scorer, and Jia Jia is responsible for helping him cut the ball and hit the transition ball. I estimate that the situation of the North Korean team may be similar to that of the Hong Kong team, because Xi Lingen is a rubber that prevents arcs and is not very offensive." Ren Xinhua pondered for a moment and prepared to temporarily adjust the tactics for Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou.

"Since Team USA's Shackleides Jamie is competing in the women's singles, Bao Bao will definitely run into her sooner or later. I had someone look up Jamie's previous competition records in the US, and she actually did quite well in the men's events. If you can score against a North Korean male player, beating Jamie will be easy."

Zhu Qi nodded.

She understands this.

Jamie's level is considered top-tier in the U.S. men's team, but the U.S. team rarely participates in world competitions.

Although Maomao and Jamie played two games last time, it seemed that both sides just stopped at the right time.

Afterwards, Maomao told Zhu Qi, "Jamie's ball felt about the same quality as a national team player. But men have much stronger muscular explosive power, and their boards are of very high quality, so a draw is not certain."

Although the national team had organized a gender competition before, Ren Xinhua gave special training to the women's team at that time, and the men's team did not take the gender competition seriously, so they suffered a great loss.

If we had prepared seriously for the World Games and conducted full training before the games... the result would have been different.

Before the start of the semi-finals.

Ren Xinhua talked with Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou alone for a long time.

A large part of the content is about Zhu Qi scoring against the North Korean male players.

This is very important.

/

Mixed doubles group, half of the semi-finals scene.

Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou arrived at the waiting area early, and Xu Dong, as an off-court coach, had already entered the field.

In the entire small room, apart from some staff members coming and going, there were only Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou sitting on a bench.

There were two people's golf bags next to it.

While waiting to enter, you also have to wait for the staff to check whether the rackets of both players meet the competition standards.

Zhu Qi and his companions changed into light yellow team uniforms today. The dragon patterns on their bodies and the names and nationalities on the back were red. With the light from the slightly swaying chandelier above their heads, there was a bizarre sense of liveliness, as if it could fly out of their bodies.

Time is ticking away.

Every time this happened, Zhu Qi felt that he could not hear any sound except the ticking of the clock and his own heartbeat.

"The game will start in ten minutes, right?" Song Linzhou looked up at the clock hanging on the wall.

Zhu Qi has no habit of calculating time. During the period of playing mixed doubles, it was Song Linzhou who reminded him when to pack up his things, when to send his racket for inspection, and when to enter the court.

After Song Linzhou said this, Zhu Qi seemed to react.

Indeed, why haven’t the rackets been checked yet?

Normally, the racket should be returned to the player ten minutes before the game, and any problems should be adjusted in time, otherwise it will easily delay the game time.

The admission time was almost up, but the staff still didn't bring their rackets.

Zhu Qi prepared to go and ask what was going on.

She randomly grabbed a staff member and spoke to him in English, but found that the other party didn't understand her.

Judging from the other party's accent and appearance, he is Russian. They don't speak English very well. When Zhu Qi was getting anxious because he couldn't understand Russian, Song Linzhou came over and had a brief conversation with him. The other party understood what Zhu Qi meant and took them to ask the prosecutor.

"Can you speak Russian?" Zhu Qi asked.

"I learned a little bit during my elective course," Song Linzhou nodded. "After all, Russia is so close to us, and we communicate quite a lot there. Learning a minor language will help us communicate more."

"What did he say?"

"He said there's nothing wrong with our rackets, but he doesn't know why anyone hasn't sent them to you, so he asked us to go and ask."

Song Linzhou walked in front, and the two of them took a small path and came to a small room blocked by a curtain next to them.

There were several people with European faces wearing staff ID cards, facing a machine that looked like a security inspection device, talking while working.

Among a group of white people, there are three people with Asian faces.

When Song Linzhou saw these three people, he recognized them and felt a little unhappy: "Why are they here?"

The other party also saw Zhu Qi.

One of them stood up and walked slowly towards Zhu Qi with a very uncomfortable look in his eyes.

Zhu Qi could even see the coldness in his eyes.

If looks could kill, Zhu Qi felt like he had been killed countless times.

"You again? Han Taiyang..." Zhu Qi tried to appear calm, his tone cold. "Oh, no, I should call you Coach Han. I heard you retired early, and I'm so sorry I couldn't send you a congratulatory message. How are you doing in the army?"

"It's been a long time, Zhu Qi." Han Taiyang stopped in front of Zhu Qi and leaned forward slightly. With his back to the light, the slanting light from above made the darkness in his eyes look unusually solemn, as if it could squeeze out ink. "I guess you're here to get your racket, right?"

Han Taiyang looks a little fatter than he was four years ago. When he speaks, he grits his teeth, which makes his face look a little puffy, like a toad.

It seems that unless you are a contestant, you don’t pay much attention to your appearance.

Song Linzhou said firmly: "Damaging a competitor's racket is a serious violation of ITTF regulations!"

"Don't worry, of course I know this, and I won't joke about my 'hard-earned' coaching position. Aren't you too suspicious? I just happened to pass by, I didn't do anything. The level of your framing of others is really getting lower and lower." Han Tianyang spread his hands, pretending to be very innocent.

Seeing the players of the Chinese team coming over, several staff members who were checking the rackets brought over two brown paper bags with inspection seals and the inspectors' names on them, and handed them to Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou in turn.

Song Linzhou checked the brown paper bag and made sure that it had not been opened by anyone, then gave Zhu Qi a wink.

During the game, there is a very rigorous process for checking players' equipment.

Just like a urine test, athletes need to look at their rackets and put them in the inspection equipment to check if there are any problems.

If the seal is found to be removed, it proves that the racket has most likely been tampered with, and the athlete can apply for arbitration.

As soon as I got my bat, someone informed me that I could enter.

The little episode of Han Taiyang's appearance did not interrupt the rhythm of Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou.

But Song Linzhou was a little puzzled: "What on earth does he want to do?"

Zhu Qi stood in the entrance area, unpacking the paper bag. After taking out the racket, he carefully inspected it from head to toe. Only after confirming it was all right did he breathe a sigh of relief. "Maybe he just wanted to be a bit of a jerk and show off his presence in front of me. After all, the South Korean team was eliminated early by the Russian team, so there's no chance they'll meet us in the mixed doubles."

Maybe Han Taiyang felt that his appearance could cause some ups and downs in Zhu Qi's emotions and affect Zhu Qi's performance.

This kid has gone through what happened 4 years ago, and he still hasn’t learned his lesson?

He doesn't think that he can win the game of table tennis by just talking, right?

Even the kids on the national second team don’t do such boring things anymore.

Zhu Qi sometimes feels that it is true that people in a small country have limited vision. They always use their own way of thinking to think about people all over the world, which makes them feel like a small-minded country bumpkin entering the vast ocean.

But Zhu Qi was also relieved.

After hearing that Jin Lili followed Han Taiyang, I thought this guy was up to no good in the military camp, planning to do something big and do some fancy things like the Japanese team did to win the championship.

I was also thinking about making careful and careful preparations on how to fight this old rival from a distance.

After looking at it this way, Han Taiyang is still the same Han Taiyang from back then.

He has turned evil, but his brain is still slow.

Only small tricks but no big abilities.

Xu Dong didn't know that Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou met Han Taiyang while waiting for the racket.

She was sitting in the coaching seat and saw that when the players from both teams came on the court, Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou looked straight ahead but were mumbling something in their mouths.

Xu Dong: “?”

What happened?

The referee and assistant referee entered the court one after another.

The referee sits behind the scoreboard, and the assistant referee comes over with a coin and asks the players on both sides to guess the coin and choose their side.

Zhu Qi quickly whispered, "Forget about it. The South Korean team has already been eliminated, so we won't face them for now. But we have to go back and tell the others to be careful and keep their rackets close to their chests."

"Okay, I'll go back and tell Xiaoba and the others." Song Linzhou said.

The coin is flipped.

Zhu Qi chose to receive the ball according to the steps agreed upon by Ren Xinhua in advance.

The referee and assistant referee sat in their seats in turn, their positions almost level with the net, and raised their hands together to signal the players on both sides to do a simple warm-up before the game.

It was at this time that Zhu Qi noticed that the name of this North Korean male athlete was also Song.

His name is Song Shuibo.

This name...sounds like Song Linzhou's brother.

This North Korean player Xiao Song is left-handed like the Chinese player Xiao Song, but one uses a horizontal racket and the other a vertical racket.

Da, da, da, da...

The white ball flew back and forth across the net.

As the number of strokes increases, the ball speed gradually increases.

The lights overhead were bright.

The shadow cast by the white ball also flies back and forth on the table.

It's like a smaller version of the Earth.

Whoever controls this white ball can control the entire world.

Zhu Qi stood with his legs apart and half squatted slightly. When he used the racket to push the ball over, he felt that the ball hit by the "violin" racket was indeed heavier than that hit by an ordinary round racket.

This heavy feeling is created by more friction at the front end of the racket.

Chao Song is very tall, about 1.8 meters tall, with very long arms, and seems to be good at protecting the stage.

The most important thing is that when this person swings the racket, there is a subtle movement of his shoulder slightly moving forward.

Zhu Qi was very familiar with this action.

Before the Tokyo World Games, I had been practicing loop shots but couldn't get the hang of it.

Later, when I was playing with Harahara in the mixed group in Tokyo, I discovered that her shoulder movements changed when she hit the loop ball.

Could it be that Chao Song used this "violin" racket in order to be able to hit loop balls?

The referee shouted a slogan.

Indicates the end of the pull.

Players from both sides will start the first game.

They stand in their respective positions, one man and one woman on each side, one on the left and one on the right, with the woman on the right and the man on the left.

"It's like looking in the mirror." Ah Shui whispered.

The first game begins.

Xi Ling'en prepares to serve.

Zhu Qi made a fist under the table, then raised his thumb and turned it to the right.

The people on the stage said they didn't understand. Ah Shui and Zhu Qi had been playing mixed doubles for a long time and knew that the gesture meant to prevent the opponent from looping the ball.

She began to think about herself from Song Linzhou's perspective, as she would also be participating in the women's doubles event at this World Games soon. So when watching the match, she would also put herself in Song Linzhou's shoes and think about what kind of preparations she should make if she were standing on the court and playing against Zhu Qi.

When seeing Zhu Qi make this gesture, the first thing A Shui would think of is... Is Chao Song on the opposite side also a loop player?

Song Linzhou also understood what he meant, holding the racket in his left hand and staring closely at the opponent's serve.

Xi Lingen held the ball in his left hand and threw it up——

Because the anti-arc rubber cannot actively create rotation, Xi Ling'en immediately hit a hook shot with his backhand.

Zhu Qi immediately followed up with a powerful twist of the ball inside the table and then quickly ran away, leaving space for Song Linzhou to receive the ball in the next shot.

The opposing male player took a step forward, lowered his body, and lifted his left hand from the bottom up. With a force that could lift mountains and rivers, he lifted a white ball that was hurtling towards the floor.

Song Linzhou followed up with a flying pick, trying to catch Xi Lingen's backhand weak spot.

Xi Ling'en followed closely and hit the ball back with the rubber granules...

The two sides exchanged blows.

No one gives in to anyone else.

Because Xi Ling'en and Zhu Qi had fought each other before, they were also old rivals on the field.

So there was no such thing as trial and error, and everyone showed their potential from the first ball of the first game.

Snap, da, bang, boom...

After a few rounds, even the commentators felt the tension on the field and were deeply moved.

The opposing player's racket is quite unique, and the ball feels like it curves very sharply. However, the Qilin combination's positioning is quite fast, and every time Song Linzhou receives the ball, Zhu Qi can leave him room to play.

The North Korean team also used a left-handed and right-handed combination this time. Xi Lingen, Zhu Qi's old rival, had already clashed in the mixed doubles before the women's singles match even began.

[As the North Korean player currently recognized as the biggest threat to the Chinese team, Xi Ling'en's performance today was also very impressive.]

This squat side-spin serve has been Zhu Qi's biggest concern since the last Women's Table Tennis Singles Championships. I didn't expect Xi Ling'en's serve to improve so much after not seeing her for over two years.

The little heads in the stands swayed left and right following the white ball, and from time to time they uttered words expressing their amazement at the ball.

"Wow……"

"oh……"

"hiss……"

The white ball was flying all over the field.

Extreme pullback.

The four of them fought for several rounds.

The suction inside the platform is short.

Flying up and picking up.

That's right.

What you're watching isn't a boxing match.

It was a thrilling table tennis battle.

Although the four figures on the field seemed to be intertwined, with their clothes fluttering and their movements being wild and open...

The score on the field changed rapidly.

From the initial [0:0], it quietly changed to [4:3], [5:5], [7:6], [8:8]...

It's like a countdown of time.

Almost every half minute, the scoreboard in front of the referee changed.

A long time ago, when table tennis was dominated by Europe, the emphasis was on one-shot smash.

But later, a group of players in red clothes appeared, and the game of table tennis became a multi-shot stalemate game, which required more solid basic skills.

When a foreign commentator talked about this game, he was amazed by the fast pace on the field.

Wow, that's unbelievable. This kind of violence was actually caused by four Asians.

[I haven't even seen it clearly yet, how come this ball is over? ]

They didn't look like they were playing table tennis, but rather a boxing match. They were punching hard, not giving in, just attacking, attacking, attacking...

at last.

The score in the first innings ended in the 26th ball.

[Small score, Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 14:12 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

[Big score: Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 1:0 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

Zhu Qi heard his own players cheering and applauding on the court, and felt that winning the first game with a big score was a good sign.

But neither Zhu Qi nor Song Linzhou showed any joy.

In the last round, Song Linzhou basically scored all the points.

Ninety percent of the balls Zhu Qi hit were caught by North Korean player Song.

Chao Song's "violin" racket seems to give him a better feel for slicing the ball.

what does that mean?

This means that the ball hit by Zhu Qi is not threatening in the eyes of the opposing male players.

As if seeing Zhu Qi's bad mood, Xu Dong knew she was getting anxious, so he slowed down his tone and said, "You don't have to worry about how to score from the opponent's male player. Just limit him and prevent him from hitting high-quality shots..."

Xu Dong wanted Zhu Qi to create opportunities for Song Linzhou.

But since Zhu Qi's first day playing mixed doubles, he has never had the experience of feeding the ball to others.

Plus what Ren Xinhua said to her last night.

Now Zhu Qi completely regards the male player on the opposite side as Jamie.

If the male player of the opposing North Korean team is Jamie, and the balls I hit can never score...what should I do?

Song Linzhou felt that Zhu Qi was unparalleled in his allocation of energy.

The mixed doubles match hasn't even finished yet, but she's already started thinking about the women's singles.

The second game begins.

The first half continued with the tactics of the first game. The Qilin combination played smoothly and kept scoring.

But starting from the 12th goal, North Korea suddenly turned from passive to active.

Xi Ling'en began to exert force with his backhand, no longer just using the anti-arc rubber to receive Song Linzhou's ball, but using the backhand anti-rubber side to hit various high balls.

Once the ball is released high, Zhu Qi can only improve the quality of his return to prevent the male player on the opposite side from hitting a high ball when receiving the ball in the next shot, which would be difficult for Song Linzhou to handle.

very good.

It was probably because Xi Ling'en saw that Zhu Qi wanted to put pressure on his male partner, so he chose to take the initiative.

Whoosh——

Xi Ling'en lowered the arc of the return ball.

clatter--

Xi Ling'en tore a straight line with his backhand.

Boom——

Xi Ling'en began to pay attention to the gap in Zhu Qi's forehand.

[Small score, Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 8:9 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

Xi Ling'en's backhand technique has improved a lot compared to the last time he played in the National Table Tennis Championships. He can almost finish the backhand the moment the ball is served.

North Korea has been catching up -

After finally taking the lead, the opponent quickly caught up with us.

Zhu Qi wanted to try something bold. As long as Xi Lingen used the anti-arc rubber to push her, she would give the ball enough friction to twist it out.

But the other male player seemed to have anticipated what Zhu Qi would do. He predicted the position where Zhu Qi would pull the ball over, jumped up and counterattacked, and hit the ball back with more insurance.

When Zhu Qi left the table, he found that the ball had drawn an arc with a shadow in the air.

Moreover, this arc does not rise upward, but flies horizontally as if floating.

Bang!

Song Linzhou didn't catch it.

The ball hit the net.

It bounced several times on the table before landing on the ground.

[Small score, Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 8:11 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

In the second game, the North Korean team caught up.

[Overall score: Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 1:1 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

As if sensing Zhu Qi's desire to score as quickly as possible, Ren Xinhua, who was sitting not far away, frowned slightly.

This situation is not good.

If Zhu Qi cannot quickly understand the hidden secrets in the opponent's male players' playing style, it will be difficult for him to score against them.

"Don't worry, it will be difficult for them to defeat us." Song Linzhou comforted her.

Zhu Qi nodded, but his mood was not very good.

Why?

Because Zhu Qi felt that the opponent's male player's ball was a bit strange.

"Do you think his ball is particularly heavy?" Zhu Qi wiped the sweat off his face during the break and asked in a low voice through the towel.

Song Linzhou thought about it and nodded.

However, Zhu Qi has no idea why he has this feeling. He can only wait until the third game starts and observe slowly.

With Zhu Qi's question, Song Linzhou also began to carefully observe the North Korean male player's hitting.

After North Korea caught up with the score in the second game, it meant that the third game was very important for the Chinese team. If North Korea continued to take the lead, the pressure in the fourth game would be very great.

The third game must be won.

As soon as Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou seized the opportunity, they immediately launched an attack.

Over-the-baseline serve, half-volley, forehand fast drive, flying lob...

Zhu Qi showed off almost all of his arsenal.

At this time, Song Linzhou felt the strength of the girl next to him. It was that although she was obviously anxious to score, the racket in her hand was still very steady. She knew when to hit a high ball, when to hit a short ball, when to extend the ball, and when to burst out... She would never be swayed by emotions, nor would she get carried away by anxiety.

As long as you are human, you will have emotions.

As long as there are emotions, mistakes will occur.

But this girl won't.

She is always calm, always steady, and always strong.

The trajectory of the third game was similar to that of the first.

The two sides fought fiercely.

For the last ball, Zhu Qi hit a forward loop ball, and when the North Korean male player received it, he accidentally hit it on the net.

Then the white ball bounced on the net and flew back to the table in the North Korean area.

[Small score, Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 13:11 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

[Big score: Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 2:1 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

Although the big score in the third game was in favor of the Chinese team.

But the audience felt that Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou did not seem to be so happy.

When CCTV5 was broadcasting the game, it was obvious that the Qilin group was very calm, and even had a sense of urgency as if they had lost the game.

The other commentators found it strange, but Sen Qiaobei could understand how thrilling it was to score on the last ball of the third inning.

[Actually, the North Korean player made a small mistake with that ball. If he hadn't tilted the paddle a bit when receiving the ball, the ball wouldn't have hit the net.]

Zhu Qi's forward balls have always been recognized as fast and fierce.

In the previous male-female competition in the national team, Qin Xiaoba was often dizzy by Zhu Qi's forward looping ball and had no ability to fight back.

There are many young male players who have just been promoted from the second national team and they also like to run to the women's team to watch Zhu Qi play.

Because Zhu Qi played violently and quickly, he was once a model for many young players to imitate and learn from.

The so-called forward loop ball.

What this means is that this ball has the high-intensity rotation and arc-shaped trajectory of a loop ball, but the angle when it bounces up after hitting the table is very low, a bit similar to Zhu Qi's "super-baseline rapid running" serve.

When it bounced up, there was almost no room for it to rise, and it flew straight across the table.

So this kind of ball is very difficult to catch.

But the North Korean male player was able to hit him back with a lob.

This only shows one thing, that is, the North Korean male player's rotation is also not weak, and this person has a very strong sense of space and can skillfully control the path of the table tennis ball after it sinks.

I originally thought that North Korea performed well in this game.

However, Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou performed so well in previous competitions, and they were also the champions of the last World Games.

Many people thought that this game should be over soon.

But unexpectedly, North Korea won two games in a row.

The score was directly pulled to [Zhu Qi/Song Linzhou 2:3 Xi Lingen/Song Shuibo]

When the last ball of the fifth game landed, no one expected that it was game point for the North Korean team.

"Don't be anxious!" Qin Xiaoba shouted in the stands.

He felt that he was more anxious than Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou who were playing basketball.

Maomao was a little worried. North Korea was now one game ahead, putting too much pressure on Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou. She frowned, recalling the reasons for the Kirin team's loss in the previous two games. It must have been the North Korean male opponent.

"Baobao really wants to score from the North Korean male players." Maomao said.

Chao Song was very defensive and the ball he hit was very thick.

In fact, from the end of the fourth game, Zhu Qi felt that no matter what kind of spin he gave to the opponent, after being blessed by the "violin" racket of this North Korean male player, almost every ball he hit was a backspin ball.

So each ball sinks.

Xu Dong called an urgent timeout for Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou.

The referee placed a score sheet with a countdown on the table.

The whole world was waiting for the 60-second countdown, and the whole world fell silent at this moment.

No one knows what Xu Dong said to them.

Everyone could only see the muted scene on the big screen, which was Xu Dong pressing Zhu Qi's shoulders and squeezing them gently, as if to help Zhu Qi relieve stress.

Ah Shui sat next to Mao Mao, suppressing his pounding heart and sighing, "I can understand Bao Bao's thoughts right now. She really wants to end the game in her hands."

Zhu Qi actually doesn't play doubles very much in the national team. Half of the 60% of doubles matches are in mixed doubles with Song Linzhou, and the remaining 40% are in women's doubles with Zhu Qi.

"I actually had a feeling when Baobao was playing doubles, she was treating it like singles," Ah Shui began to worry. "Every time it was her turn to receive the ball, she loved to smash it. As long as she could score, the game would go smoothly. But this North Korean player didn't give Baobao that opportunity. From the first game on, Baobao couldn't find a way out. She found that every ball she hit was being received by the opponent, so she just kept getting stuck in a rut."

Maomao nodded, thinking that what Ah Shui said made sense.

So now we can only put our hopes on Xu Dong, hoping Xu Dong can comfort Zhu Qi.

The overall score is already [2:3].

If North Korea wins another game with a big score...

The North Korean team was in great momentum and the North Korean coach looked very happy, but he continued to tell the two players how to play the next game without showing any emotion.

"Keep intercepting the ball from her..."

The two North Korean players nodded in unison.

The North Korean coach continued, "Their synergy is truly remarkable. Zhu Qi is the key offensive player for this duo. As long as her partner understands her inner thoughts, they can lay the groundwork for her performance on the previous board. However, if she can't perform to her full potential, you only need to defend to score."

This was indeed the case in the fourth and fifth innings.

In fact, the two players on the North Korean team have always been in a passive state.

The two of them didn't even play many offensive shots, and basically focused on defense.

But even so, North Korea still won two games.

Because Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou made some mistakes, either the ball went out of bounds, hit the net, or they just failed to catch it.

The trajectory of the ball played by the North Korean male player is very strange. Sometimes it feels like the ball will bounce to the left, but when Song Linzhou goes to catch it, he finds that the ball has passed by his racket.

Because of this situation, Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou lost several points.

What a pity.

Zhu Qi was frustrated, lost in the two rounds of defeat. All he could think about were the points he hadn't scored in the previous round, replaying them over and over again in his mind like a fleeting scene.

The male player on the opposite side is a bit weird.

The strange thing probably comes from his unique racket.

Ren Xinhua watched everything that happened beside the pool table and understood everything.

Since joining the national team six years ago, Ren Xinhua knew that Zhu Qi was a player with his own ideas.

Her ability to adapt to changing circumstances can be said to be the best among the current players, including those in the national team.

No matter what kind of opponent you encounter, you can immediately find a way to fight back.

Song Linzhou's playing style is relatively more regular, as if it had been arranged by the coach within a set of rules. There was no trickery when serving, and everything from tossing to hitting the ball was clean.

Although such players make the coach feel at ease, when they actually step onto the court, they seem to be stuck in a framework and behave in a disciplined manner.

If a player meets a coach with particularly good ideas, he may be able to "wake up" the player during the game, but if the coach's level is not high, it will delay the player.

So this is why we decided to let them play mixed doubles.

These two players, one is flexible and versatile while the other is stable, one focuses on attack while the other focuses on defense.

Ren Xinhua felt that the two of them could form a mixed doubles team and complement each other.

But when facing different players, different tactics should be adopted...

Players from both teams are still receiving instruction from their coaches.

Xu Dong's facial expressions were all over the screen.

"Baobao, your problem right now isn't external, but internal. You're too impulsive, attacking without first determining the next ball's weakness, and you're voluntarily giving up some opportunities to your opponent. In terms of skill, the guy on the other side isn't as good as you, and in terms of match experience, he doesn't have as much experience as you do. You can even beat the men on the national team, so how can you not beat this North Korean guy? Try to hold on for a few more rounds; there's no need to kill him with one shot."

Xu Dong patiently tried to help Zhu Qi regain his confidence.

"You can treat the opposing male player as Jamie, but you have to remember that you are playing doubles, not singles."

When Xu Dong first said this, Zhu Qi did not understand what it meant.

But when Zhu Qi walked to the pool table.

A shadow appeared next to her.

The shadow spread across the table.

Close to her shadow reflected on the table.

Zhu Qi certainly had an unrealistic sense of detachment.

It felt like a magical force pulled me out of a transparent shell.

In fact, when they first started playing doubles, Zhu Qi refused.

She felt that playing doubles would inevitably waste her time and energy playing singles.

If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't play in the women's singles at the Tokyo World Games, Zhu Qi would never have participated in the doubles event.

Many people have always said that the Qilin combination has a very high level of tacit understanding, and every game can be used as a model for doubles.

Because the Kirin combination has excellent skills in terms of the transfer between male and female players, their ability to respond on the spot when facing various doubles, their excellent single-player laning ability, and their extremely high winning rate since Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou formed a mixed doubles team, which has basically meant they have never lost.

It makes people feel that the two of them are a sure thing in mixed doubles.

But that’s not actually the case.

There were also many problems when they first started playing mixed doubles.

Why did these problems disappear later?

For Zhu Qi himself, there was actually not much change.

The tacit understanding between the two of them in mixed doubles became stronger and stronger, purely because Song Linzhou actively catered to Zhu Qi's playing style and cooperated with all of Zhu Qi's actions.

Song Linzhou left all the room for Zhu Qi to play, allowing her to freely display her abilities on the court.

At this moment, Zhu Qi suddenly understood the meaning of what Xu Dong had just said to him.

This is a doubles match.

There were two people standing next to the doubles table.

Zhu Qi needs to take his partner around him into consideration and think carefully about what kind of ball the opponent will return when he hits the ball - and whether his partner will be able to receive it easily.

When playing doubles with A Shui, A Shui listened to me and told me to play the way I wanted.

Including the agreement made when I first formed the mixed doubles team with Song Linzhou, all tactics must be under Zhu Qi's control.

Over such a long time, Zhu Qi has formed this habit - treating doubles as singles.

I see.

Zhu Qi looked up at Xu Dong who was sitting next to him, then lowered his eyes.

When Xu Dong received Zhu Qi's gaze, he knew that Zhu Qi understood.

She was very relieved.

The sixth game, Zhu Qi's serve.

She grabbed the ball, wiped off the dust on the outside of the ball with her fingertips, then walked to Song Linzhou and asked in a low voice.

"Where do you want me to hit?"

Song Linzhou was stunned, thinking he had heard wrongly.

This is the first time since we started playing mixed doubles.

For the first time, Zhu Qi took the initiative to ask what kind of ball he needed.

Generally speaking, he is the one who asks this question.

When Zhu Qi asked this, Song Linzhou felt flattered. However, he thought about it carefully and said, "Add a little arc when hitting the backhand—"

Zhu Qi nodded and began to bend over to prepare for serving.

Song Linzhou retreated to his position, holding the racket with his left hand, waiting to serve.

Both men arched their upper bodies at the same time, their sportswear covering their slightly raised spines and shoulder muscles, like two little beasts ready to pounce.