93 Moscow World Games - Women's Singles

◎A counterfeit is always a counterfeit.◎

Regarding Zhu Qi's ridicule.

Jin Lili didn't agree.

In Jin Lili's opinion, what qualifications does Zhu Qi have to say such things?

When Zhu Qi was competing, wasn't it because her playing style was almost exactly the same as He Qianlu's, and the coaches thought she could win the gold medal like He Qianlu, that made her look up to her?

Is Zhu Qi more noble because he learned other people's fighting style?

Zhu Qi just happened to take advantage of an advantage that others didn't know about and won the World Cup. From then on, Zhu Qi began to rise rapidly.

It’s also because of Ren Xinhua’s favoritism.

Jin Lili took a deep breath, but for some reason, she couldn't vent the anger in her chest.

After getting on the bus chartered by the South Korean team, Jin Lili sat at the innermost part of the carriage.

The Korean players in front were chatting about some unimportant things. To Jin Lili, she felt like an alien who would never be able to fit in.

Those people don't care whether they speak Korean fluently or not, and sometimes they even deliberately make jokes about themselves in Korean.

After coming to Korea, almost everything I have achieved is the result of my own hard work.

Jin Lili never thought that she was worse than Zhu Qi or Maomao.

She just felt that she was unlucky and didn't have a good master with "connections".

suddenly.

Suddenly, there was another person sitting in the empty seat in front of me.

When Jin Lili looked up, she saw Han Taiyang looking down at her with a cold expression. There was no warmth in his eyes, and he looked at her as if she were a tool.

Every inch of his gaze showed that he was weighing whether Jin Lili was a good tool and what needed to be adjusted so that he could use her more easily.

"The World Games haven't ended yet, why are you so dejected?" Han Taiyang's tone was not very good.

Although the Korean coaches felt it was a pity to lose the women's doubles gold medal, it was not that difficult to accept.

For the Korean team, as long as there is a brand, it is easy to explain, and it doesn't matter what color it is.

Jin Lili gritted her teeth and retorted, "I'm not. I'll be fully focused on preparing for the women's singles competition. I know what I need to do."

Anyone who watched the women's doubles match knew where the problem lay.

Anyone with eyes knows how much effort they have put in for the women's doubles.

The women’s doubles team lost…what does it have to do with her?

Although the women's doubles team won the silver medal, and it is still the only table tennis team in the South Korean team...but Jin Lili is not satisfied at all.

She doesn't care about any doubles brands at all.

Although Jin Lili's attitude was impolite, Han Taiyang didn't care.

He just wants someone who can make him more valuable in the Korean team.

Han Taiyang is no longer an athlete and does not have any resources at his disposal.

South Korea is very realistic.

Whoever can bring the greatest benefit to the team will be favored.

If someone's status declines, they will immediately sneer and exclude each other.

With the current global economic growth, class differentiation in South Korea will only become more serious in the future.

I missed the best opportunity before and failed to get into the top three in the World Games, so there is no way to be exempted from military service.

In order to participate in the Tokyo World Games, Han Taiyang spent almost all of his money, including the savings from previous competitions, to "buy" a mixed doubles spot from the South Korean team.

Later, in order to retire early, Han Taiyang sold all his real estate and borrowed a large sum of money from outside.

He is like a gambler who has lost his mind to gambling.

Keep adding to the bets on the wheel of fate.

As long as we can bring out a World Games champion, this money is nothing at all. The series of benefits that follow are the real ones!

The coach of the world champion.

This title has more room for maneuver than any "world champion".

World champion is just a title.

Only a world champion coach can maximize all benefits.

Han Taiyang looked at Jin Lili, who looked like she was not afraid of anyone, and laughed in his heart.

What this world lacks the least is fools who want to become world champions.

Just like Jin Lili, these people are willing to do anything to become world champions.

By that time...

He now has a bunch of cards in his hand that he can control, and whoever he wants to play in the competition will play...

But one thing that Han Taiyang found very tricky was that he didn't expect Zhu Qi to have made such great progress in the past four years.

In fact, four years ago, Zhu Qi had already demonstrated a talent for touch that surpassed almost everyone.

Her knowledge and understanding of the ball are even better than many players of the South Korean national team.

Even Han Taiyang, who is also an athlete, would feel that such a player might monopolize the development space of other athletes when he occasionally sees Zhu Qi hit a few wonderful shots.

Jin Lili herself didn't feel anything, but as a coach, he could clearly feel the gap between Jin Lili and Zhu Qi.

Han Taiyang thought she was so stupid.

Why do I always wonder when I can surpass Zhu Qi?

Everyone knows that Zhu Qi's current development is out of control. Even among the Chinese team's own players, there are very few who can beat Zhu Qi, right?

Zhu Qi is now in the golden period of his life.

Since Jin Lili left the Chinese national team and joined the Korean national team, she had almost a year off, and was unable to keep up with the heavy training targets of other national teams.

Han Taiyang's goal was never to let Jin Lili beat Zhu Qi, so he was relieved to see that Jin Lili and Maomao were in the same half of the women's singles draw.

Is it true that in sports competitions, only strength is the most important thing?

No.

Personal luck also plays a big part.

For example, when he was in Jerusalem, He Qianlu suddenly had an accident and withdrew from the competition.

Isn't it the case that because of He Qianlu's departure, the next person will have the opportunity to replace He Qianlu?

Since Zhu Qi was brought out by He Qianlu.

Who knows, maybe Zhu Qi’s future will be the same as He Qianlu’s... maybe not?

An Zhihui was sitting in the crowd. Although a group of people were talking to her, her mood was not high.

As a North Korean defector, you actually receive certain preferential treatment in all aspects in South Korea, but this preferential treatment is only limited to public and under the spotlight.

It seems like a carefully prepared exhibit by South Korea to show the world how tolerant and caring South Korea is to people in the North, so as to attract more North Korean defectors.

But once there was no one around, the attitude of the people around him towards An Zhihui changed again.

In fact, in this situation, An Zhihui and Jin Lili should be in the same situation.

But An Zhihui felt that Jin Lili was really difficult to get along with.

Kim Lili's obsession with victory has reached a crazy level. Except for An Ji-hye, no one in the entire Korean women's table tennis team is willing to play women's doubles with Kim Lili because they feel the pressure is too great.

If she handled the ball poorly, Jin Lili would immediately look at herself.

Moreover, as a person coming from China, I have no knowledge of Korean etiquette. I don’t even use honorifics when meeting my seniors. It’s really... I don’t even have the most basic manners.

If I wasn't a North Korean defector, the coaches wouldn't have thrown this difficult task on me.

An Zhihui felt that she was extremely unlucky.

I was actually assigned to the same upper half of Section A as Zhu Qi...

This ranking is not unexpected.

I might not even make it to the top 8.

/

After the women's doubles final, even after changing clothes, A Shui was reluctant to take the gold medal off her neck.

"Oh, you said that I have won quite a few awards over the years. But why do I feel that all the gold medals I won before are not as important as this one?" Ah Shui held the gold medal and looked at it back and forth under the light.

The edge of the gold medal has gear-shaped decorations, and combined with the pure gold color, it looks very expensive.

"Is there really gold in the World Games gold medals? If they were melted down, could the gold be recycled? Oh, I definitely wouldn't want to part with it. This is my first World Games gold medal! I'm so excited, I want to wear it around my neck forever. Maomao, weren't you and Baobao this excited when you first won the World Games gold medal? And this is your third gold medal, right?"

Ah Shui was muttering to himself as he packed up his things while waiting for the cat next to him to come out after changing his clothes.

Cat's voice came from behind the curtain, and she laughed, "Yeah, but this is my first doubles gold medal, and I won it with you, so it means a lot!"

"Hehe, that's true." A Shui followed.

"I've played in women's doubles with Sister Shushu and Sister Hongxia before. You never know how much harder doubles is than singles. It's a good thing I'm playing with you. If it were someone else, we might not be able to win so easily. Hiss—" Maomao suddenly gasped as he spoke.

Ah Shui walked over and, thinking that the cat was feeling unwell, pulled back the curtain. "What's wrong with you? Oh my god, such a big bubble!"

Two large blood blisters appeared on the soles of the cat's feet, one on the sole and the other on the heel, each as big as a one-yuan coin.

"I have some Band-Aids here, you can put them on first." Ah Shui rummaged through his bag and took out two Band-Aids that were stuck in the zipper and had been there for who knows how long.

Thinking about it carefully, it seemed like it was the last time the national team went to the military control center.

At that time, Zhu Qi had a big blister on his hand because he practiced for too long, so the coaches asked the players to always carry a Band-Aid on their bodies.

These two days of intensive competition require high-intensity exercise.

It is normal to get blisters on the soles of your feet from running constantly.

After playing women's doubles for just five days, Ah Shui felt like her two feet were about to be torn off her body, not to mention the women's singles she would play later.

The blister on the cat's foot was too big, and the Band-Aid that A Shui took out couldn't cover it completely. A small area was exposed and bleeding.

"It's okay, this won't affect anything." Maomao stuffed his changed clothes into his golf bag and prepared to go out. "Let's go."

Although A Shui is simple, he is not stupid.

She knew that this kind of blister would take at least four or five days to heal, and it would easily become inflamed if she exercised a lot during this period.

The biggest worry during the game is the physical condition of the players.

Maomao has also experienced all kinds of ups and downs. He won the competition with his arms so stiff that it was difficult to even bend them. This time it's just two small blood blisters, so there will definitely be no problem.

But what Ah Shui didn't notice was... when Maomao stood up, he reached out to support his waist.

/

After returning home, Maomao felt that his waist was getting more and more uncomfortable. It was very heavy, and he felt stiff when he stood up from the bed.

Maomao first found the team doctor. She thought she just had a muscle strain after playing a doubles match.

After the team doctor massaged the boy, his face looked a little bad.

Ren Xinhua and Master Fo were watching from the side. The latter was sweating profusely and asked quickly, "How is it?"

"It feels a little protruding." The team doctor gently pressed the key parts again and felt the whole lumbar spine of Mao Mao. From time to time, he would ask. "Does it hurt?"

Maomao frowned and said "it doesn't hurt" several times. It wasn't until the team doctor pressed the fifth vertebra that he let out a cold breath and said, "I can feel it a little, but not very strongly. It's a little sore and swollen."

Ren Xinhua knew Maomao's personality. If it didn't hurt a lot, she would never say "I feel a little bit".

"It should be a lumbar disc herniation." The team doctor frowned and wrote and drew on the paper.

Ah Shui, who was eavesdropping at the door, turned around and asked Zhu Qi, "Mao Mao is so miserable. Why is he sick all over? He just had shoulder surgery, and now he has a lumbar disc herniation. He feels like he has a 20-year-old soul but a 40-year-old body..."

Zhu Qi sighed.

Who says it’s not?

Zhu Qi and A Shui both belong to the younger group.

Although they spent more time with Maomao, Maomao was actually four years older than both of them. He was already an adult when they were 14 years old.

Being four years older also means four more years of athletic career, considering the training volume of the Chinese national team.

Every year, athletes' physical fitness declines significantly by one degree.

Ah Shui asked again: "Is this lumbar disc herniation serious? Will it affect the rest of the game?"

"Feel your lower back. Do you feel any bones? Your lumbar spine is made up of five vertebrae, each of which is connected by a ring of fibrous cartilage. Every time you jump, run, or bend over, this ring of fibrous cartilage protects your lumbar spine, cushioning your lower back and supporting the movement of your upper body. But if the ring of fibrous cartilage wears out, bones will move out of their original position. This is what the team doctor just mentioned, a lumbar disc herniation."

Ah Shui understood Zhu Qi's explanation and exclaimed in admiration, "Bao Bao, you know so much, you even know this."

In fact, it’s not that Zhu Qi knows a lot. When he was a coach, he had to do some part-time work as a team doctor, which was to help the players with massage. At that time, he had some knowledge of medical knowledge in this area.

While he was speaking, the team doctor had already taken the cat to get a blocking injection.

In order to ensure that you are in the best condition during the competition, you still have to get the injection even though you know that the side effects of the injection are serious.

Because the reaction was not that big, the number of fights was not large.

A Shui, who had a short rest of five days, did not feel the joy of the national team winning three gold medals at all.

The doubles event is over, but the most anticipated singles event has just begun.

Moreover, Zhu Qi had fought with Maomao before, and some of his mental strength had been consumed.

But there are many women's singles players who have only registered for a single event in this competition. They are ready to show their ambitions...

well.

It would be better if the first match was singles, so that the players could take a break and get the most difficult items first, so that the subsequent events would not be so tiring.

The night before the singles event.

All the coaches lost sleep.

Especially Ren Xinhua, who paced back and forth outside the suite alone at night.

Xu Dong and Chang Hongxia, who lived in the same suite with Ren Xinhua, also couldn't sleep. The three of them began to discuss various competitions for tomorrow.

Although both Big Bear and Maomao have participated in the Tokyo World Games, Big Bear's performance in the previous Games was not good, and he lost more than he won when facing Matsukaze Ichito in the past four years.

Although Maomao just won the women's doubles championship, she still has a lot of problems.

Although Song Linzhou won the "Pembroke" Cup in the previous session, his performance was not very stable. Anyone can win or lose.

As for Zhu Qi...

Xu Dong was very confident in Zhu Qi and issued a military order: "Except for Jamie, basically no other contestant in the entire A area can match Bao Bao..."

Ren Xinhua shook his head. "Although Jamie is a problem, upsets are most likely to occur in major events like the World Games. We must never underestimate our opponents. This includes South Korea's An Ji-hye. Although she lost to Bao Bao several times before, she performed quite well in the women's doubles matches other than the final. And then there's Jin Lili..."

Speaking of this former player who left the national team.

Xu Dong and Chang Hongxia both felt like there was something stuck in their throats.

Foreigners have already started reporting extensively, trying to find out why Jin Lili left the national team.

Xu Dong alone heard foreigners interview Jin Lili several times, asking questions like "I heard that you left China because you were treated unfairly in China. Is that true?", "Can you tell us about your experience training in Korea after immigrating to Korea? Is it different from your time in China?", "Which do you feel more comfortable training in China or in Korea?"

I remember how much attention and traffic Han Taiyang earned by smearing China. He became a well-known Korean athlete without ever winning a world championship.

Anyway, it's fun to watch the fun.

Talking about topics that are unfavorable to China can make their popularity rise to an unknown level.

It's strange.

On the one hand, these foreigners look down on China and think that China is not good in this or that way.

Even when Qin Xiaoba was playing in a French club, some foreigners would jokingly ask him some very speechless questions like "Do you still need to kneel when your president meets you?"

But every time something happens, they like to bring China into the conversation, as if only by dragging China down can they show how awesome they are.

Having said that.

Why don't they pull down Africa?

Of course, it’s because they also know who needs to be pulled down.

Although Jin Lili's personality is not pleasing, every time when reporters ask these questions, she answers fairly well, saying things like "China is my hometown and South Korea is a place for development. I don't need to compare the two places."

In other words.

It is the national team that has a conflict with her, not China as a whole.

Jin Lili would not discredit the place where she grew up just because the place where she developed was not her hometown, which made Chang Hongxia look at her with a slightly higher opinion of her.

I recall when Jin Lili first joined the national team.

She was the most outstanding student among that group, even more outstanding than Maomao, who was one year older than her at the time, and she also got into the team with a "Little Grand Slam".

When Coach Dami picked Jin Lili, he also planned to train her according to the "Grand Slam".

At that time, Coach Dami was around Jin Lili almost every day, playing high balls and practicing serving for her every day.

But Jin Lili relied on her slightly better talent and ended every training session as soon as she met the standard. It wasn't long before she was overtaken by Mao Mao, who had accumulated a lot of experience and was extremely hardworking and serious.

Later... Zhu Qi joined the team.

After Jin Lili left the national team, Chang Hongxia actually carefully recalled whether there were any problems with herself as the captain when Jin Lili was still there and whether she had given timely guidance.

But later Xu Dong persuaded her and just said, "Everyone has their own destiny."

Jin Lili's starting point was too high. Before Zhu Qi joined the team, she had almost never encountered any setbacks except for losing once in the Aogong World Cup.

Or maybe it's because the people around her have too high expectations of her, and after being in the spotlight for a long time, it's hard to go back to being ignored.

Chang Hongxia thought Chairman Ren was worried that Maomao might run into Jin Lili, so she said, "Although Jin Lili has imitated Baobao's fighting style, I think there's still a difference. A lot of Baobao's skills are just child's play, and Jin Lili can only imitate the basics."

Ren Xinhua shook his head. "I'm not worried about her. Russia's Snodiava has been bulking up lately. I've watched her mixed doubles videos, and the power she plays with is almost the same as a boy's."

Little Snow probably gained muscle in order to snipe Jamie, wanting to have a showdown of strength and power with this transgender person.

This is the Russian way of thinking, they like to confront each other head-on.

Singles match.

The most intense competition.

The world's strongest fighting arena.

Finally the gong sounded.

The number of people who came to watch the game today was almost twice that of the doubles event!

Tickets for the World Games are calculated on a daily basis. The price for 32 to 16 is one price, the price for 16 to 8 is another price, the price for 8 to 4 is another price... and then they are divided into different levels according to the inner circle, middle circle, and outer circle.

A few days ago, basically one-third of the seats were empty.

But today, even the last row of the individual events was full! Many empty corridors were also crammed with extra seats.

The men's singles match in the morning went very quickly.

Daxiong and Song Linzhou both successfully advanced.

There were no tough opponents in the women's singles in the afternoon, and they quickly won at [4:0].

In the first round, Zhu Qi met a female player from India. Their level was not on the same level. Zhu Qi successfully advanced without even performing at 50% of her level.

She looked at the racket in her hand and felt that time was passing so quickly that it was unbelievable.

The World Games competition feels like there is no difference from the National Table Tennis Championships and the World Championships... No, there is still a difference.

The difference is that this is the final piece of her Grand Slam puzzle.

Before the game started, Ren Xinhua found the four players who were going to play in individual events and talked to them for a while.

The content of what was said was similar, which was nothing more than asking them to keep a calm mind no matter what opponent they met.

As a result, after Ren Xinhua finished speaking, a player was upset in the women's singles round of 32 to 16.

An Zhihui in the lower half of Section A was taken away by a girl from Pakistan [4:3].

This news almost monopolized the joy of the entire Chinese team's advancement and was talked about by domestic and foreign media.

Zhu Qi happened to get off work very quickly. When he came out after changing his clothes, the Pakistani female player was competing with An Zhihui in the seventh game. Zhu Qi stood by and watched for a while.

People in the Greater Middle East often have long names, but fortunately her name is easy to remember: LuLu/Lulu. This name means "a girl like a pearl" in both Urdu and Arabic.

When she beat An Zhihui, her coach almost jumped up from the floor, then fell to his knees and kissed the floor mat.

After confirming that she could advance, the 18-year-old Lulu hugged her racket and was so excited that tears flowed down her face.

She has deep eye sockets, a high nose bridge, and thick and long eyebrows, a bit like a Uyghur girl.

But her skin is relatively dark, with a skin color between that of Latin Americans and Asians, and the way she cries with joy looks like a drop of water falling from a round Tahitian pearl.

At that moment, Zhu Qi felt that this game for the Pakistani team was not like a 32-to-16 match but a final.

Perhaps for them whose country is facing difficulties in development, being able to participate in the World Games is a very remarkable thing.

Just like when the People's Republic of China was first established, China was also struggling with its national strength.

The old man said that when he took Ren Xinhua and others to Athens to compete, he took the players of the table tennis team to play exhibition matches and exchange matches in various universities and raised funds for the travel expenses.

Maybe today's kids can't understand this: isn't the national team managed by the General Administration of Sport? Doesn't the government provide funding?

At that time, the national team did not receive salaries, but food coupons, cloth coupons, meat coupons...all kinds of coupons.

It would be amazing if the average monthly salary was three or four yuan.

But when you go abroad, no matter what you do, people only want real money.

At that time, the General Administration of Sports paid more attention to team events such as football, basketball, and volleyball. Table tennis was a dark horse and was not taken seriously.

Zhu Qi had some impression of this girl.

In her previous life, this little girl had won a bronze medal at the World Games, but not at this Moscow World Games, but at the 2006 Los Angeles World Games.

At that time, domestic newspapers reported on it for a whole week, promoting this "beautiful pearl born in the desert."

Because of the friendly relations between China and Pakistan, she often travels to China, participates in the promotion of many table tennis events, and even taught herself Chinese and communicates very fluently.

Many domestic fans like her very much and always affectionately call her "Little Pearl".

Now many people think that it was South Korea's Ahn Ji-hye who "surprise" the young Pearl, because they think that how could a player who comes from a well-known country lose to a backward country that can't even produce bicycles?

Pakistan?

Is there such a thing as a ping-pong table in this country?

But now this "little pearl" is still in its developmental stage and it is not time for it to bloom.

Because she will meet Zhu Qi in the next game.

And it just so happens that Maomao will meet Jin Lili in the next game.

Ah Shui glanced at the schedule and lamented, "It's so fast! You and Jin Lili are so close, you happened to be drawn into the same quarter."

Maomao didn't take it seriously. He straightened his sneakers, stuffed them into his backpack, and said, "It's only a matter of time. It's better to finish it early."

Ah Shui thought about it and agreed. He turned around and said to Zhu Qi, "Coach Xu, can you get a good night's sleep tonight?"

Zhu Qi didn't understand: "Why?"

Ah Shui shook his head and said, "You definitely won't pull off an upset like An Zhihui!"

Zhu Qi felt somewhat helpless and smiled, "Didn't our Chairman say that we shouldn't underestimate the enemy? Maybe that girl is really strong. To be able to defeat the main force of South Korea, she must be no ordinary person."

"But there's definitely still a gap compared to you, right? An Zhihui isn't T0, she's at most T1... point 5?" Ah Shui stretched lazily, feeling incredibly comfortable. "But I heard Pakistan is very poor in all aspects of infrastructure, even table tennis rackets are hard to come by. She must be quite talented to make it to the World Games."

"Of course," Maomao nodded. She always admired players from humble backgrounds, believing they rose through the ranks thanks to their own abilities. "I just watched the match afterward, and I noticed the Pakistani coach didn't even have a proper serve."

Although those who come from wealthy families can also get along well, the treatment and teachers they enjoy are definitely different.

Some people follow former national players as soon as they join the provincial team, while others follow half-baked players who can't even serve properly as soon as they join the national team.

Zhu Qi could empathize with this.

She was a very independent person from the age of six. When her uncle wanted to take her to a specialized school, Zhu Qi bounced around and "interviewed" several coaches, only to find their skills varied widely. Some coaches were just empty promises, their postures distorted when they actually started playing. Others were somewhat competent but had no way of teaching, leaving the players to practice on their own. Finally, she compromised and chose a coach of average skill. Zhu Qi followed suit and learned on her own, until she joined the provincial team and worked under He Qianlu, where her skills improved dramatically.

Thinking of this, Zhu Qi felt that he should also show sportsmanship and prepare seriously for the next day's competition.

/

The scene of the 16-to-8 competition.

When Zhu Qi entered the venue, he felt that the Pakistani girl standing next to him was rubbing her hands and shoulders back and forth, as if she was relaxing herself.

She thought Lulu was feeling unwell, but when they shook hands, she realized that Lulu was just a little nervous.

“…” Zhu Qi felt helpless.

She is not a tiger and cannot eat people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Qi took care of his chin and patted the other person's shoulder after shaking hands.

Who knew that when the fight really started, Zhu Qi realized that he had underestimated the other person.

She might be really nervous, but after holding the racket, Lulu's state was obviously different.

Lulu's playing style is also a horizontal racket with double-sided anti-glue, but when she starts playing, she is not as violent as the Chinese team. Instead, she has a sense of long-term entanglement.

Although there were many problems with his steps, being rather fragmented and poorly connected, his long legs meant one step was equivalent to two steps for others, and he ran back and forth like a deer and made a few good saves.

This type of player is a talented player. They don't have any systematic plan when playing. They don't think about how to receive the next shot to score after receiving the previous one. Instead, they just hit the ball wherever it lands.

While playing, Zhu Qi began to figure out Lulu's playing style.

She never hesitates to take crucial shots, even at the risk of mistakes. Even when she's behind, she fights and never gives up.

Just based on this.

Winning against An Zhihui definitely cannot be called an "upset".

With a few more years of good development, the future will be limitless.

But it's a pity.

Lulu's current level is not good enough to stand on the podium.

The basic skills of the two players are too different. No matter whether it is backhand or forehand, no matter whether it is long or short, Zhu Qi basically crushes them with absolute advantage in every game.

There were a few balls in the middle that could be caught, and Zhu Qi also planned to give her two balls.

This behavior is allowed in table tennis competitions and falls within the scope of reasonable concessions.

Because many countries are so poor that they don’t even know what rubber is.

During several previous GTT tournaments, Zhu Qi saw some players from Africa and the Middle East who were reluctant to use rubber and used the rubber from car tires to practice, and only used rubber and sponge when playing in competitions.

In a table tennis match, you can judge the opponent's level from many details.

Therefore, there is no such thing as deliberately pretending to be weak to get points.

The Chinese team usually gives handicaps later in the game.

Lulu didn't even want to catch up, but instead played the ball with Zhu Qi with a learning attitude.

There were a few side shots, and Lulu just lost points in the previous second. The next time, she continued to play side shots, but slightly adjusted the angle and shape of the board as if she was trying and groping, not caring about the score at all.

How can we break through this iron wall opposite?

It’s really a headache.

There is no way.

I have no idea at all.

Zhu Qi played a lot of pulling and pushing in the last round. After the sweat from the first three rounds was almost dried naturally, he went home happily.

Xu Dong anticipated this result, but when she saw the big score [4:0], she clenched her fists and shouted "Nice".

Zhu Qi shut out his opponents for two consecutive days, forcing Xu Dong to suppress his desire to pop open a glass of champagne at halftime. After the game, he kept rubbing Zhu Qi's head and said with joy: "Next game, you play against Yuanxiang."

In Yuanxiang again?

I'm tired of beating her because I keep running into her.

Is there no one else on the Japanese team after Mie Hashinobu retired two years ago?

Where is Reiko Komatsu?

Oh, by the way, I was assigned to the cat area.

Xu Dong felt that Zhu Qi had never lost against Yuan Xiang, and the next game would definitely be another day without overtime.

No one would have thought at that time that her quarterfinal match with Hara Kaori would be called "the top five most thrilling battles in Witch's career" by fans many years later.

/

After packing up, Zhu Qi did not change his jersey, but ran to Area B to watch Maomao's game for a while.

Unexpectedly, when Zhu Qi arrived, the score was only [2:1].

Even Jin Lili is the "2" and Maomao is the "1".

how so?

Zhu Qi frowned and leaned in the corner to watch for a while.

Ah Shui finally came over from the audience, stood behind Zhu Qi, and whispered, "In those three rounds, each one was over 10 points. It was pretty intense. Jin Lili was fighting hard with Maomao."

“…” Zhu Qi.

Every time it was Jin Lili's turn to receive the ball, she would rush to the ball first, and then use her backhand to tear the ball apart continuously.

Maomao didn't know if it was because his waist was weak, but it seemed that he couldn't even use his waist to push out some balls. He just pushed them out with his arms, so the rotation looked very weak and was directly chopped by Jin Lili's backhand.

When Maomao was three points behind in the fourth game, Coach Cun called an emergency timeout for Maomao.

On the screen, Coach Cun was sweating profusely due to anxiety, and the cat was also soaked. When he wiped his face, he felt the water droplets sliding down the cat's cheeks.

Based on his lip movements, Zhu Qi could even tell what Coach Cun was saying.

——"Look at the way you retreated from the stage just now. She immediately took control of the rhythm. No matter what, you can't let her drive you away from the stage..."

——"Her forehand is so weak, she can only hit you with her backhand a few times."

——"Don't use your weak points to compete with her strong points. As long as you give her a few backhands, you can win..."

Zhu Qi felt that Coach Cun's head had grown bigger and his cheeks had bulged. While he was attacking crazily, he was also worried that Jin Lili next to him would take advantage of the situation.

But Maomao's stubborn nature came up again, and he wanted to fight back against Jin Lili.

Jin Lili was a backhand player when she was on the national team. After learning Zhu Qi's playing style, she further improved her backhand system to a higher level.

The 16th ball of the fourth game was Jin Lili's serve.

Jin Lili closed her eyes, looked at the ball in her palm, prepared to hit it with her right hand, and threw it upwards. As the ball rose, it fell slightly towards her body.

Chang Hongxia next to her frowned.

This is Jin Lili's old problem again.

It seems that nothing has changed after joining the Korean team.

In the serving rules.

There are restrictions from the moment the ball is thrown.

The ball must be thrown vertically without any arc, otherwise it will be considered a violation.

At the moment of hitting the ball, the opponent must be able to see the shape of the racket and the hitting point, otherwise it will be considered a violation.

But Jin Lili didn't do that.

When she served, her shoulders leaned forward, which is a common sight in many streetball games.

Offline competitions do not have as many requirements as formal competitions, and many older generation table tennis enthusiasts still retain some serving characteristics from the blocked serve era.

By covering the serve, it is easy for the opponent to not see the spin and score.

After all, the coach only sits on both sides of the table and sometimes cannot see very clearly, so he cannot immediately judge whether it is an illegal serve.

The cat saw the ball rising slightly and tried to catch it as a topspin ball, but when he caught it he found out it was a backspin ball and it flew off the table.

[Small score in the fourth game, Zu Tianjiao 6:10 Jin Lili]

It was Jin Lili's match point.

Zhu Qi thought, "Are you not going to defend this serve? Such an obvious illegal serve?"

The cat stretched out his hand to indicate that the ball was illegal.

Zhu Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

The coaches adjusted the Hawkeye and slowed down the speed, and found that the ball was indeed not thrown straight, so the point was cancelled and recounted, and the game started from [6:9].

The South Korean side expressed dissatisfaction and applied for arbitration.

The game was suddenly paused. Many spectators who didn't know the rules well didn't know what was going on, and then they heard the Korean and Chinese fans cursing at each other again.

"Jiligurulujiligurulu ah shit!"

"Can't you blind thing see?"

"Gibberish, gibberish, gibberish, kid!"

"If this can be counted towards the South Korean team, it only means the referee is accepting bribes!"

The game was suspended for three minutes.

I don't know how the two sides negotiated, but both the referee and the assistant referee thought that the ball should not count and should be played again.

Han Taiyang could only shout "Wow" and sit back in his seat.

Ah Shui was anxious watching from the side and kept cheering for the cat.

When Zhu Qi saw this, he felt that Jin Lili must have made some progress in her football skills during her two years in Korea.

Han Taiyang is also a backhand player, and he probably taught Jin Lili everything he knows.

Tsk tsk.

He's quite attentive.

But Zhu Qi's thoughts may be different from those of normal people.

She felt that Jin Lili could fight with Maomao to this extent and risk receiving a yellow card for serving an illegal ball.

On the contrary, it is possible that Jin Lili was forced into a desperate situation by Mao Mao.

After all, Maomao was no pushover. She had spent so much time with Zhu Qi. In terms of understanding, no one knew Zhu Qi better than Maomao.

It seemed that they were behind in the score, but Jin Lili used all her skills and finally managed to beat Maomao with a score of [2:1].

If the opponent wasn't a cat, the game might have ended long ago.

Maomao took a white ball from the referee and stood beside the table, looking at Jin Lili opposite him.

She felt that she could see a shadow of Zhu Qi through Jin Lili.

But it was just an illusion, which did not mean that Jin Lili was Zhu Qi.

And...the cat felt awkward watching Jin Lili, who was deliberately imitating every move.

Although Jin Lili has tried very hard to imitate Zhu Qi's playing style, learning Zhu Qi's series of combinations of serve, serve reception, backhand system and close-table fast attack.

Jin Lili is not the first person to imitate Zhu Qi.

Since Zhu Qi won the "Miriam" cup, many people around the world have tried to imitate him, but none of them have succeeded.

Cat knows why.

Because Zhu Qi never thought about becoming anyone's shadow, she was always breaking through, always thinking, and always trying to find ways to move herself forward.

Because Zhu Qi's playing style also incorporates a lot of what she has seen and heard in her career.

Because Zhu Qi has fought with many world-class masters, received training from coaches around him, and exchanged techniques with his partners who lived under the same roof.

And these...Jin Lili has none of them.

so.

A knockoff is always a knockoff.