119 Florida Table Tennis Championships
◎But I won't let you advance to the semifinals and play against my teammates.◎
In fact, the so-called "upset" was just propaganda from the American media.
But those who really understand the table tennis circle and have watched more games know that Xi Lingen's victory over Jamie was by no means an "upset", but was actually within the expectations of many people.
Although North Korea has little international influence and has always been a marginal figure, Xi Lingen has consistently excelled in women's table tennis competitions. In fact, during the Moscow cycle, she was the only player to defeat Zhu Qi of the Chinese national team.
But what surprised everyone was that Xi Ling'en was able to take a big lead by two scores and beat Jamie [4:2].
If the game could reach the deciding round, perhaps the US would not feel so ashamed.
It was because Xi Ling'en beat Jamie so smoothly in the last two sentences, he just treated Jamie like a dog, and every combo was exactly the same as Zhu Qi's in the Moscow World Games.
The time of Xi Ling'en and Jamie's match just happened to be different from Zhu Qi's, so Zhu Qi stood by and watched for a while.
Jamie actually played well in the first two games, leveraging his physical advantage to continually increase his score, constantly adding high impact shots to Xi Ling'en's wide angles. Because Jamie was powerful and his shots were powerful, Xi Ling'en was initially overwhelmed.
In this way, Jamie won two games in a row with big scores, and kept shouting excitedly to his supporters on the stage, as if he had already won.
Because this is the American home game, there are many support groups who come to support based on their nationality.
When Zhu Qi came, he also saw the promotion of this competition on the American news, and even made a very complete personal documentary for Jamie.
She was born into a family where all the children were girls. When she was still a boy, she had several older sisters and she had always envied them for wearing skirts. She was talking about how much she had sacrificed to regain her identity. She almost met God on the operating table, but God saved her by telling her that she needed to win honor for America.
This routine looked very familiar to Zhu Qi. He wondered whether the United States learned it from Japan or the Japanese team learned it from the United States.
But it seems to be quite useful to the American people. Jamie shouts and his supporters outside follow suit.
It seemed as if he wanted to influence Xi Ling'en's performance through this shouting.
Ah Shui was watching along, and whispered in Zhu Qi's ear, "Is it because after Jamie lost to you last time, he learned that you've been practicing listening to the ball, so he called these people over to deliberately yell outside the court, thinking that when they meet you again, they'll use this method to interfere with your ability to hear the ball and judge its rotation?"
Zhu Qi felt that Ah Shui was very smart now, and she was thinking about this matter just now.
Because these American fans at the scene were so noisy. Not only did they shout when Jamie scored, but they also shouted when Jamie served.
Logically speaking, the game control should have taken control of the game at this time, but the American home team seemed to have been given special warning and no one cared about this group of "sports hooligans".
Zhu Qi put himself in Xi Ling'en's shoes and thought, if he encountered this situation when competing with Jamie, he would definitely feel disgusted as if he had eaten a fly.
But fortunately, the one competing with Jamie now is not Zhu Qi, so obviously this kind of magic attack is useless to Xi Lingen.
Xi Ling'en's dynamic vision was also quite good, and she could see the ball very accurately. She didn't need to listen to the ball's rotation like Zhu Qi did; she could see it just by looking. Starting from the third game, the situation of the entire match began to change subtly, but Jamie's reaction was very slow, and he didn't notice that Xi Ling'en had begun to change her playing style.
Jamie wanted to continue using the same method as in the first two games, still using large-angle moves to let Xi Lingen run on both sides of the table and then rush over to score.
But after hitting only two balls, Jamie found that the balls he had pulled over began to gradually fall out of the table.
"It seems like Jamie hasn't made any progress in the past three months. That's right, she can't do anything with her level in such a short time." Zhu Qi looked at Jamie who had lost several balls in a row. The boy's face showed confusion, annoyance and irritability again.
Jamie would make this expression whenever he encountered a ball that he found difficult to play.
In simple terms.
It seems that Americans all have this characteristic, which is that they only know how to expand their advantages and play when the situation is favorable.
Whenever they're facing a losing streak, they panic and continue to use their previous strategy. If they can't find a more effective scoring strategy, they start tanking. If the American coach can't offer any useful advice after tanking, they simply go for the five-shot option.
Jamie is now in the stage of losing the outer tower.
"Hey? Why did this ball come out again? This is the fourth ball Jamie has come out. If he gets two more, we will lose the big score." A Shui covered his mouth and chuckled.
Her little mouth seemed to be blessed. Not long after she finished speaking, Jamie lost the third game.
After Xi Ling'en won a game, he walked to his coach and started wiping his sweat.
Although Jamie is still leading by a large margin, Xi Lingen looks very relaxed because she has mastered how to score from Jamie.
Unlike the atmosphere in North Korea, the American coach's face flushed red. His skin, once pale as a corpse, now looked like a crab cooked in high heat, his cheeks puffed out. Jamie kept spinning in circles, not sure if he'd heard the coach's instructions.
But most likely they didn't listen.
Because in the fourth game, Jamie still made various mistakes and kept losing points.
Even in his own serving game, he couldn't gain any advantage over Xi Ling'en.
"How could this happen? Jamie's explosive rush always happens." Ah Shui couldn't understand it, and stood behind Zhu Qi, asking in a low voice.
"Xi Ling'en's anti-arc rubber doesn't spin the ball. Every time I receive a ball hit by it, I have to actively add spin to it to ensure it lands on the table and lands in the right spot. But Jamie didn't develop her fundamentals well since she was young. Every time she receives a ball, she habitually bumps it first and then rubs it. This results in very little friction. Jamie's balls don't spin enough, and she can't control the force, so she easily hits the pool ball."
"No wonder." A Shui nodded repeatedly and cursed "Serves you right". He didn't expect that Jamie has always been proud of her high-powered shots and thought she could beat all the female players, but she didn't expect to encounter such a restrained anti-arc rubber.
That’s not all.
After all, Xi Ling'en is also one of the world's top female athletes.
The overall strength level has always been recognized as the best.
Zhu Qi observed for a while and found that every time Xi Ling'en picked a long ball, he would add a short ball, making Jamie run back and forth between the near and far tables. The way he deliberately teased Jamie was very similar to the routine he had mentioned in front of the media after the World Games.
While this may sound a bit narcissistic, Zhu Qi felt the North Korean team must have carefully reviewed his interviews, analyzed his tactical analysis of Jamie, and then provided Xi Ling'en with specialized training. After adapting to Jamie's playing style in the first two games, they began to exert their strength in the third, winning two consecutive games and pushing the match to a fifth.
Xi Ling'en frequently used short balls to score points, and Jamie started making mistakes every time he hit his forehand.
As the mistakes got to the point, Jamie's faith began to break, and he would start showing off his national quintessence every time he lost a point.
The North Korean team on the opposite side looked at "her" like a monkey, with eyes full of sneers and contempt.
But Jamie has not made no progress in these three months. He probably watched Zhu Qi's interview and improved his backhand weakness when he returned, but it was obvious that he did not practice it to the point. Several consecutive dribbling mistakes gave Xi Ling'en opportunities.
Xi Lingen, after all, had plenty of match experience, so his shots were decisive and his judgment was spot-on. He used serve and backhand counterattacks repeatedly, practically slapping Jamie across the face, sending him tumbling across the table. The American coach's face was stained red and white.
Although Jamie took two big scores at the beginning.
But Xi Ling'en later won four games with big scores.
When the referee announced the victory of the North Korean team, the American fans who were originally cheering suddenly fell silent. No one dared to say a word for fear of being known to support Jamie.
In a word.
It's just embarrassing.
First they lost to the Chinese team, then to the North Korean team.
Is this the "strength" of their top American players?
Did they spend such expensive ticket fees and extremely expensive interstate fees and travel so far just to see their own players being pinned to the ground by players from other countries on their own turf?
Very angry, and then the anger turned into booing.
A lot of the booing also came from other teams' cheering groups, and a few members of the Chinese men's table tennis team even joined in, expressing their contempt for Jamie.
Jamie didn't cry when he lost this time, but he still refused to accept the post-match interview, saying that he played poorly but could escape.
Even though the American team lost, everyone was happy.
But Ah Shui couldn't help but think about the North Korean team's progress this time, and he was a little worried about Maomao, who was in the same half as Xi Ling'en: "Xi Ling'en beat Maomao in Moscow, and now it seems that his overall condition is even better than in Moscow..."
"Yes." Zhu Qi took a deep breath.
There are many new faces from various countries in this National Table Tennis Championships.
Times are changing too fast.
/
After the match with Jamie, the North Korean team still refused to communicate with any foreign media and was only willing to accept interviews from reporters from Russia or China.
It just so happened that among the Chinese reporters who came to Florida this time was Sen Qiaobei. He is also a veteran table tennis reporter and has a high presence in North Korea. Both coaches and players know him.
Sen Qiaobei first praised Xi Ling'en's performance in this match, and then asked, "After falling behind by two large scores, you suddenly fought back and won four games in a row. When did you master the secret to scoring quickly?"
Xi Ling'en exchanged glances with the North Korean coach next to him, and after receiving permission, he replied with a very appropriate smile and tone, "I prepared very well for this competition. I watched many opponents' games before coming here, and then mastered some scoring techniques through the coaching staff. This is all thanks to the coaching staff's trust and cultivation of me. I also want to thank some senior table tennis players for their technical guidance, which is why I was able to successfully advance..."
In fact, this sentence does not mention Zhu Qi, but it feels as if every word is hinting at Zhu Qi.
Jamie hadn't actually played many matches in the World Championships, and most of them were wins. Wasn't the only match where he could find a scoring technique the one against Zhu Qi?
I don't know what Jamie felt after listening to this interview.
But inexplicably, Zhu Qi was pushed to the forefront by the American media again.
On the way back, Zhu Qi listened to a whole segment of various discussions with American journalists.
"I've heard that athletes from many countries are applying to train with the Chinese team. We don't encourage this, as these athletes are simply too naive. Regardless, we'll all be competing against each other in the future, and I don't think anyone other than the United States would be so great as to 'cultivate' their own future competitors."
"We also don't advocate training athletes from other countries. This behavior is very unfair to other athletes who are not 'grouped' by such people."
——"I urge certain countries to uphold fairness and justice and not to form any 'small groups' in sports..."
Zhu Qi was originally drowsy in the car, but he suddenly became alert after hearing what America said.
Qin Xiaoba cursed, "Are these Americans saying we're forming a clique?"
"Of course they are talking about us. These people are so idle. What does it have to do with them if we recruit a few 'students' ourselves?" Ah Shui said he didn't understand.
Zhu Qi understands this: "Those foreign players who come to Beijing for training have to pay 'tuition' and accommodation fees to the national team. In the eyes of the United States, this behavior is a source of profit."
Maomao felt a little tired after today's match. Hearing the US slandering their own country, anger showed on his face: "They are just sour grapes now. If they can develop table tennis well and recruit more foreign players, then they will definitely not say such things..."
Jamie was nominated by the United States for this purpose.
But it's a pity.
Ruined by Zhu Qi.
In fact, when Zhu Qi was watching Jamie's game, he was also anxious about the secret being revealed... Yes, he was really anxious.
She really couldn't understand why someone could be so stubborn.
By the fourth game, I felt like my aggressive drives were no longer effective against the rubber. Why didn't I just keep hitting forehands without turning back? Wouldn't it be better to just hit a quick backhand with a side spin, then follow up with a backhand twist and a straight shot on the next ball?
oh.
Or maybe Zhu Qi overestimated the IQ of the American team.
When the large intestine is expanded, it covers an area of more than 300 square meters, but it can never replace the brain because the large intestine has no thinking function.
If the American team continues to develop like this, it will never be able to catch up with the Chinese team no matter how many years pass.
How can the Core i9 beat the Pentium II?
Because they are a bunch of reckless men who don't use their brains when playing and only think about winning by strength.
I don't think at all about how to expand the advantage with the next ball and the next ball after this one.
Jamie was originally very happy to know that he could participate in the National Table Tennis Championships this time, and he played very smoothly in the first few games.
This National Table Tennis Championships might be his best chance to take revenge on Zhu Qi, but when he was competing against that North Korean bumpkin, he discovered that this North Korean was actually using Zhu Qi's procedures to compete against him.
Because of the anti-arc rubber, the North Korean's playing style was even more sticky and disgusting. Every time I hit the ball, it was pushed back lightly, leaving no chance of scoring.
Jamie was the only one in the locker room. Even the American coach who had been helping him was nowhere to be found.
It seemed like everyone thought that Jamie could only go this far. Perhaps, as Zhu Qi said, Jamie's basic skills were not solid enough.
Is it possible for “she” to win in the future?
/
The competition is on its 4th day.
The quarterfinals basically screened out some players of average level.
After Jamie was eliminated, the other female athletes breathed a sigh of relief and it felt like the atmosphere in the entire arena had returned to normal.
Those who are still on the field can be regarded as the best masters.
In the quarterfinals, Zhu Qi met Russia's old rival, Little Snow.
Snow's muscle gain over the past two years has paid off, and coupled with his already excellent forehand, every ball he hits sounds particularly heavy.
It is precisely because of this that Zhu Qi had a difficult time in this game.
She has never been good at dealing with power balls, but later found that using Huang Jiajia's set of slicing shots to make up for the lack of power was very effective.
When facing Zhu Qi, Little Snow also exerted 120,000 points of his mental strength.
The two also played six games. When Zhu Qi started playing, he found that Snow had improved a lot in long balls. It might be because the Russian's playing style also began to shift towards a loop ball system, so every ball he pulled over was heavy and powerful.
Zhu Qi's shoulders were numb from playing, and every time he bent down to pick up the ball, he could see the sweat on his face sliding down his forehead and dripping onto the floor mat.
Xiao Snow on the opposite side is in a similar condition to Zhu Qi. She is four years older than Zhu Qi and belongs to the same generation as Maomao.
But in the past two years, I obviously feel that my condition is not as good as when I was in my early twenties, and my physical strength is not as good as before.
Later, Zhu Qi decided not to play long balls with Little Snow, and started playing short balls near the net.
After hitting two short balls back and forth, Snow Jr. began to reveal that he still had some problems in handling the ball.
There were several balls that were actually a bit high, and if Zhu Qi received the ball, he would immediately hit it in a straight line.
But young Snow's offensive ability is not as fierce as when he was young. It may also be that he is afraid of Zhu Qi's backhand loop ball. Several times, he failed to hit the ball in a straight line when he should have, and Zhu Qi seized the opportunity.
As Zhu Qi took the lead, Little Snow's skills began to loosen up.
For some reason, Zhu Qi always felt that things were going particularly smoothly for him when playing games recently.
This feeling of success does not come from oneself, but from the opponent.
As soon as the opponent saw Zhu Qi taking the lead, they seemed to give up resistance and no longer had such a strong desire to win.
Every time this happened, Zhu Qi began to miss the feeling of playing against Maomao. That was a real fierce battle, a relentless fight, both sides equally skilled, with each other going back and forth. Every ball was exhilarating and exciting, making your blood boil.
Thinking of this, Zhu Qi was looking forward to meeting Maomao in the final, and he played more fiercely, making several sideways counter-attacks and scoring quickly.
In the end, Zhu Qi won with a score of [4:2].
Little Snow smiled bitterly when he saw the last ball land.
The two old rivals hugged each other briefly, and Little Snow praised her: "I think no one can stop you now."
"I think... there will be in the future." Zhu Qi replied modestly.
Maomao faced Zaiyuan Xiang in the quarterfinals and successfully advanced. The next game will be against Xiling En.
Buddha is very nervous about this game of Maomao.
Because it was Xi Lingen in Moscow who blocked Maomao's way to the finals.
As the silver medalist of this World Games, the North Korean team is also determined to win the "Miriam" Cup.
In fact, after the match with Xi Ling'en, Master Fo and Coach Cun have been avoiding that game, not letting Maomao look back to the day of his failure, for fear that Maomao would recall his dark day at that time.
But this time it’s different. We can’t lose to the same opponent in the same game again.
Master Fo and Coach Cun dug out the videotape of the game overnight, and dragged Maomao to re-watch the game and the points that needed attention.
Normally, all three zones of the Florida Table Tennis Championships have produced the top four players.
But who Zhu Qi will play against next...is still unknown.
Because the quarterfinals in Zone A haven't finished yet.
It just so happened that it was Jin Lili and A Shui.
Whoever wins will be Zhu Qi's opponent in the semi-finals.
Because the game in Area A started later, when Zhu Qi went out, it was just the third game. She looked around and found that Maomao had already taken a seat in the audience.
On both sides of the table, A Shui and Jin Lili were taking a short break in front of their own coaches.
Zhu Qi and Xiao Snow were exhausted after the fight. They drank two bottles of soda before they recovered. They quickly asked, "What's the situation now?"
"[2:0]." Maomao paused, her tone a little nervous. "Jin Lili scored two big points."
"..." Zhu Qi didn't say anything, feeling that the situation was more tense than he had imagined.
Ah Shui has made great progress in the past two years. Compared with four years ago, he has been reborn. It shouldn't be that he can't get any points from Jin Lili, right?
Unless... Ah Shui's old problem started to appear again, that is, he was not confident enough in himself and his mentality was inferior to Jin Lili's.
I thought the same thing as Zhu Qi.
Chang Hongxia looked at Ah Shui, whose face and expression were a little pale. Although her tone was still flat, she said a lot more than before.
"Don't overthink it. If she wants to go for a rally, don't be fooled. Your advantage is after the third shot. She's better at the first three shots. As long as you can get the ball to the fourth shot, that's your advantage. There are still many innings left to chase. Don't think about the previous shots. Focus on the ball in front of you and seize every opportunity to attack."
Ah Shui lowered his head, wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded silently.
"Jin Lili's ball skills are very similar to Bao Bao's. Don't you know Bao Bao best? You often score against her when you play against her. You should use your strengths to your advantage and find a way to waste time with her. The longer the time, the more chances you have to score."
"Okay, I know. I'll try my best to last with her." Ah Shui seemed to have calmed down, and his tone became more determined.
Chang Hongxia clapped her hands at Ah Shui's back as he walked towards the pool table: "It will definitely work. Stay steady!"
Jin Lili also heard this and snorted softly.
Judging from the first two games.
The quality of A Shui's ball is indeed much better than before.
But the long rubber playing style is really useless.
If someone who doesn't understand long rubber plays against a long rubber player for the first time, he or she may be confused by the counter-spin produced by the long rubber.
However, if you understand how to play with long rubber, you can use it as ordinary rubber.
Jin Lili is very confident.
She looked at Ah Shui standing across the table and felt the palm of her hand holding the racket getting hot again.
【2:0】
Win another game by yourself.
Then we can basically lay the foundation for victory in this game.
Almost no one can turn the tables when facing a huge disadvantage of [3:0].
Jin Lili felt that A Shui did not have such ability.
She will defeat A Shui, and then face Zhu Qi in the next match...
——"See you in Moscow."
——"The premise is that you can make it to Moscow and advance to face me. Good luck, Korean prospective players."
Four years ago.
He issued this declaration of war to Zhu Qi.
At that time, Jin Lili was so confident that she believed she could make great achievements in South Korea and regain her own half of the zone. Then she promised Zhu Qi to let the whole world know who was the best player in the 1990s.
But Jin Lili never did that.
Instead, Zhu Qi's sarcasm came true. He really failed to make it to the semi-finals and had the opportunity to meet Zhu Qi one-on-one.
She will win.
She must win!
Jin Lili's attack became more fierce. She used all her strength in almost every swing of the racket, directing all her anger and resentment towards the opponent.
But - A Shui began to play it safe.
She no longer focused on scoring quickly from Jin Lili, but instead focused on getting on stage steadily.
The fierce attack was hit back by the long rubber with a rotation in the opposite direction.
When Zhu Qi played against A Shui before, he particularly liked to use concealed rotation to trick A Shui.
Because the long particles cannot actively create rotation, so whatever rotation Zhu Qi throws at him, the rotation Ah Shui throws back at him is nothing more than a change of direction.
So every time Zhu Qi saw Ah Shui standing on the right side of the table, he would start to give the ball a left spin. In this way, the ball hit by Ah Shui would have a right spin, resulting in the ball not being able to hit the table, thus losing points.
In the first two games, Jin Lili had actually been using this method to score points from A Shui, but now it doesn't work.
A Shui's steps began to become flexible, and he was able to adjust his posture every time so as not to stand too close to the sides of the table.
Bang!
whoosh!
Bang!
A Shui pulled a borderline ball.
The ball narrowly bounced off the white line of the table.
"Well done!" the cat shouted.
Zhu Qi also breathed a sigh of relief: "Standing still has an effect. Ah Shui's ability to grip the ground with his steps is quite strong now."
"Yes, standing still requires the front of the feet to exert force, and the body can also become more flexible. As long as you don't stand too close to the corner, the ball you hit won't go far off the table." Maomao nodded, and then saw the referee start to flip the scoreboard on A Shui's side.
[Score of the third game: Fang Miao 5:6 Jin Lili]
A Shui is catching up little by little.
This is a good sign.
When Jin Lili was in the national team, she ridiculed A Shui's long rubber as an "old lady's style of play" because he would not actively attack his opponent, but basically focused on defense and then picked the time to look for opportunities to score.
But now this "old lady style" began to make Jin Lili feel irritated.
Every time she hit the ball, it felt like hitting cotton, which was uncomfortable and also consumed a lot of Jin Lili's energy.
Physical strength has always been a shortcoming of Jin Lili.
She plays basketball with speed, fierceness and accuracy. She likes to catch fast balls and doesn't like to engage in stalemate with others.
But Ah Shui still feels like nothing happened until now. Although there is some sweat on his forehead, he can still run and jump as usual, and it does not affect his agility at all.
Zhu Qi knew that A Shui had always been a brick and could be moved wherever he was needed.
When I was a sparring partner in the past, no matter which coach called A Shui, A Shui would go and serve as that person's sparring partner.
Now he is a member of the big team, but he also often practices with me and the cat.
A player who can practice with two of the top players, although his lethality is not great, his defensive capabilities are maxed out.
A Shui has always been the strongest backing in the women's doubles, and she has the ability to resolve all offensive balls.
Jin Lili didn't want to play mushroom with A Shui, but A Shui just didn't want to play the first three boards with Jin Lili.
After several rounds of struggling, Jin Lili didn't notice when Ah Shui got 11 points.
[Score of the third game: Fang Miao 11:9 Jin Lili]
[Big score, Fang Miao 1:2 Jin Lili]
Chang Hongxia stood up and applauded A Shui with a happy look on her face.
A Shui becomes more and more serious about the game. He thinks that any old lady style of play that can score points and win the game is a good way!
Jin Lili gritted her teeth and stared at A Shui who was standing opposite her.
A Shui was also looking at her.
It seems like time has gone back to six years ago.
In front of the national team's small table.
Ah Shui was beaten by Jin Lili, who was much better than him in skills at that time, and he had no chance to fight back, but he never thought of giving up and tried hard to get the pitiful one point.
But now, she is no longer the same Ah Shui.
When two pairs of eyes look at each other, they seem to be able to convey some kind of information to each other.
Jin Lili didn't know why Ah Shui was fighting so hard. "You think you can beat Zhu Qi just because you beat me and made it to the semifinals?" Ah Shui had never been a perfect singles player. Since she'd positioned herself in doubles, she should focus on doubles! Don't compete with her for the singles spot! Besides—you can't beat me! I will continue to beat you, just like every time before!
Ah Shui held the ping-pong ball tightly in his hand, staring at the smooth lines on the white ball, then placed it on the table and gently shook it twice.
Ah Shui took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
No one understood what Ah Shui was doing, but from the look on the big screen they saw the courage of a hero who would never return.
When Ah Shui opened his eyes again, his pupils were clear.
It doesn't matter if you can't beat Bao Bao.
But I won't let you advance to the semifinals to play against my teammates.
I will definitely stop you this time.
Defend your own quarter.
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