148 The Hero's Decline
How will they compete in the Riyadh World Games next August?
After the women's table tennis final, Zhu Qi also played a full seven games with Maomao... To be precise, every game since the quarterfinals was a full seven games.
Before the finals, Maomao's back injury relapsed, and Zhu Qi's right foot began to swell after the semi-finals. The team doctor diagnosed that there was inflammation in the old ligament injury.
Not only that, Zhu Qi's entire calf was in spasm due to excessive force, and he had to be massaged for a long time by the team doctor after the game before he recovered slightly.
At the end of the finals, it is basically a competition of who has better physical fitness, and many people in the circle use the phrase "It depends on whether God will give it" to express regret.
For national team coaches.
No matter who wins this game, the championship will remain with the Chinese team.
If Maomao wins, a new Grand Slam champion will be born, and if Zhu Qi wins, the Chinese team can win the second "Miriam" Cup replica cup.
When the last ball was over, Maomao's back injury was obviously giving way, and his deformed operation caused the ball to fly off the table.
When watching this game, the commentators rarely expressed their excitement when the champion was finally determined. Instead, they used a slightly regretful tone, praising Zhu Qi while expressing their regret for Maomao missing out on the "Miriam" Cup for the second time.
After the match, one of the two girls was carried out, and the other was pushed out in a wheelchair.
"Earlier this year, during the Asian Series, Maomao withdrew from a match due to a recurrence of his back injury. It seems he couldn't handle the intense pressure of such a high-intensity match."
"Although I feel bad for Maomao, I still want to congratulate Zhu Qi for winning the National Table Tennis Championships for the third time in a row and winning his second 'Miriam' replica cup so far."
In fact, what everyone feels is a pity is that for athletes, each game is one less game to play.
After the game, Zhu Qi went back and prepared to change into his award-winning uniform without any strength. Every bone in his body was sore from the games he had played in the past few days. He didn't even dare to find a stool to sit on during breaks, otherwise he would not be able to get up once he sat down.
There was another big bump on the right foot.
Zhu Qi has experience with foot injuries. This feeling is very similar to when he played in the Moscow World Games. If it was just inflammation, it would be okay. He could take some anti-inflammatory medicine and be fine in two days.
The fear is that the injury will be exacerbated and the sutured ligament will be torn again.
After all, the ankle that has undergone surgery has artificial ligaments and tendons, which are not as elastic as the body's natural ligaments and are more easily torn than natural ligaments.
But when he saw the "Miriam" cup brought over by the organizer, Zhu Qi felt that his foot pain was relieved a lot.
The names engraved on the base of the trophy have seamlessly transitioned from "1995-1998 Zhu Qi..." to "2001-2004 Zhu Qi China".
The replica cup was completed two months later and forwarded to the Beijing Sports General Administration by the International Table Tennis Federation.
The Holy Grail of the All Table Tennis Championships series is basically one meter tall, and feels heavy and large when held in the arms.
Although the replica cup has the same shape and material as the "Miriam" cup, its volume is only one-third of the "Miriam" cup.
When Zhu Qi was invited to the General Administration of Sports to receive an award, he felt mixed emotions when he saw the "Miriam" replica cup placed on the exhibition stand.
When Zhu Qi first participated in the National Table Tennis Championships, Ren Xinhua told her that Ren Xinhua's replica cup had been placed in the exhibition hall of the General Administration of Sport. When Ren Xinhua could train a player who could win the replica cup again, he would be allowed to take his replica cup away.
Now watching Ren Xinhua ask someone to take away the replica cup that had been deposited with the General Administration of Sports for nearly half a century and replace it with Zhu Qi's replica cup, Zhu Qi sighed with gauze wrapped around his right foot.
I don’t know when I can move this replica cup back home.
Because her foot injury recurred, she took an X-ray at the hospital and it showed that she had a slight strain. In addition, there was inflammation, so she took anti-inflammatory injections for a day before being allowed to return to the national team.
Mao Mao's condition was more serious. After being "carried" back from the National Table Tennis Championships, he lay in bed for two days and couldn't get out of bed.
We can only invite doctors from outside to come to the national team to see them.
There are three girls and two patients on the entire seventh floor.
Zhu Qi, leaning on a crutch that Xu Dong had found for her, limped to the door of Maomao's dormitory and watched the doctor perform acupuncture on Maomao's waist. Various medicinal herbs were burning nearby for fumigation.
Ren Xinhua, who was standing next to him, was listening to the doctor analyze the cat's problem, frowning as he listened.
"This girl's lumbar disc is in serious condition. It's severely worn, and a protruding bone is almost pressing on a nerve. Now she can only lie still and can't exercise. She'll need a week of physical therapy and rehabilitation training. If there's no improvement, she'll have to be hospitalized. I suggest corrective surgery, which is minimally invasive and involves simply pushing the bone back in..."
"No!" Maomao interrupted the doctor. "The World Games are next year, I can't do the surgery now!"
"Hey, don't sit up." Seeing Mao Mao fidgeting, Ah Shui sat beside him and put his hand on Mao Mao's shoulder. "Don't we say it depends on the situation? If he can recover better this week, then... he shouldn't need surgery."
Ah Shui himself sounded a little uncertain.
Because the cat's injury this time seems more serious than any previous time.
Although I couldn’t walk on my own after the Moscow World Games match with Jamie, I recovered after a short rest.
But this time, it’s been three or four days since the vaccination, and my lower back still hurts when I stand up.
Seeing Maomao like this, Chang Hongxia felt the same pain as anyone else. She herself chose to retire because she was too seriously injured to compete anymore.
The decline of a hero seems to be the final fate of every athlete.
Chang Hongxia sighed, turned around and saw Zhu Qi standing at the door with a distressed look on his face, and walked over to comfort him: "Your feet are still swollen, go back and rest."
"I'm fine, I just wanted to come and see if there's anything I can help with." Zhu Qi said in a low voice.
The cat has shoulder and waist injuries, and it seems that no bone in its entire upper body is healthy.
This National Table Tennis Championships may be Maomao’s last chance to hit the Grand Slam.
If my physical condition is still good, I might be able to compete in the next National Table Tennis Championships, but...
Chang Hongxia knew Zhu Qi was sad for the cat. After all, she was also an athlete and understood this feeling. She comforted him, "Don't worry about it. There are a lot of 'healthy people' here. You are injured too, so just take good care of yourself. You are not needed here."
Zhu Qi could only go back to his room, pack his golf bag and prepare to go to the training hall with A Shui.
As she limped to the training hall on crutches, a group of children from the women's team gathered around her.
"Sister Baobao, why are you still coming to training even though you are in this state?" Youyou looked down at the sandals on Zhu Qi's feet.
Because his feet were so swollen that he couldn't wear shoes, and they were wrapped with several layers of gauze, Zhu Qi could only kick the ball into the stadium in slippers.
With feet like this, it feels difficult to even stand, let alone train.
The other young players all looked over with admiration.
Ah Shui also felt that Zhu Qi was a bit too much. As he was packing his things nearby, he said, "It's true that until the world explodes, the national table tennis team won't have a holiday."
The second-in-command of the women's team sets an example by showing up at the training ground on time.
Because Zhu Qi couldn't do strenuous exercise, he could only find a referee chair nearby and sit on it to help others practice.
While throwing the ball, Zhu Qi looked at the little bell running around the other end of the table and sighed inwardly.
Back then, when she first joined the national team, she was very arrogant and acted like she would never serve as a sparring partner for anyone. She wanted to be the "Number One" in the women's team.
Now that I’m older and have won all the awards I deserve, I’ve gotten used to being a sparring partner for some of the younger players.
Zhu Qi didn't know whether Chang Hongxia had the same mentality back then. She always felt that there were still many games to play.
But just now, when he saw Maomao lying on the bed, Zhu Qi suddenly felt that the days he could compete were very short. He didn't know when his body would fail, and he would have to retreat behind the scenes to leave the more splendid stage to the young people.
The reason why the cat doesn't want to have surgery at this critical juncture is very simple.
Once surgery is performed, the recovery period will not be less than six months.
How can we compete in the Riyadh World Games next August?
There is simply no time.
Moreover, the following group of female table tennis players are still in the growth stage. Although they can play in the competition, their condition is fluctuating.
Some players train well at home, but show their weakness when they enter a crucial competition like the World Games. Not to mention individual and doubles events, even Ah Shui's team, which participated in the National Table Tennis Championships for the first time, had to go through two or three games before they could find their form.
As Zhu Qi was practicing with the young players, he always felt that he was not doing well, so he moved away from the stool and stood next to the table for a while.
As a result, after standing for less than half an hour, she was sweating profusely and her feet felt like they were stuck in a swamp and she couldn't even lift them.
Finally, Ah Shui helped him sit back on the stool next to him, and then he used the ice water bought from the store by Xiao Lingling to apply to his body for a while before he felt better.
"Oh, you, why don't you just sit still? Otherwise, go back to the dormitory and have a rest." Ah Shui held Zhu Qi's feet, helped Zhu Qi remove the loose gauze, and wrapped a new roll on it.
As a result, Ah Shui's skills were limited, and no matter how he wrapped Zhu Qi's feet, he couldn't wrap them, and a piece would always fall out and hang down.
Zhu Qi couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to take matters into his own hands.
Ah Shui unwraps the gauze he had wrapped and rolls a new one. He picks up the scissors and says, "Don't worry, the beginning is always the hardest. I'll wrap it again! One last time! It'll work this time!"
"Little aunt, stop making trouble, I can do it myself."
"Don't look down on me. I also learned from a doctor. Even though it's a little ugly, it's definitely strong."
"Hiss—don't use so much force, are you trying to strangle me to death?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this piece of gauze is no longer effective, I'll get a new one..."
The two of them untied and tangled themselves.
There was gauze scattered on the ground next to it.
In the end, it was the arrival of another person that ended it all.
"Let me do it." Song Linzhou finished his training and was about to go to lunch, but he saw that Zhu Qi's feet were swollen like buns and he couldn't even stand up.
Ah Shui wanted to try one last time, but Qin Xiaoba reached out and pulled her out the door: "Don't make things worse. Let's go, go get some food. Bring the food over and we'll have a small table in the annex to eat."
Song Linzhou's technique is obviously much better than A Shui's. It is probably because he has been suffering from illness for a long time that he has become a good doctor.
Zhu Qi saw that he had a swelling-reducing plaster on his knee and a cooling ice patch wrapped around the outside of his arm. He probably had some strain from the high-intensity competitions during this period.
This game caused a lot of injuries to the entire national team, and Daxiong had to go to the hospital every day.
Song Linzhou had helped Zhu Qi bind his feet before, and this time he was very familiar with it. He first picked up a piece of gauze to support the sole of the foot and then used the gauze roll to wrap it from the sole of the foot to the instep and ankle, forming a triangular wrapping technique.
After wrapping it twice, Song Linzhou took out a cooling patch from his golf bag, stuck it on the outside of the gauze to cool down the bruised area of Zhu Qi, then continued to wrap and fix the cooling patch, and finally cut the gauze and stuffed it into the gap in the gauze on the sole of the foot.
"Okay, you try it." Song Linzhou put down the scissors and looked up at Zhu Qi.
Zhu Qi shook his feet.
I found that the gauze was firmly attached to my foot, with almost no loose gaps, and it did not squeeze my foot.
Zhu Qi sighed, "You have the potential to be a doctor... Oh, I forgot. Your parents were doctors before, so you can be considered to have inherited some of the genes, right?"
Song Linzhou smiled and said, "Maybe."
After saying that, Song Linzhou saw the socks thrown aside by Zhu Qi and said, "Actually, you can wrap a layer of socks on the outside. After all, your feet will still take up space when you walk, and the gauze will still get dirty."
"Forget it, I'm not that fussy. My feet can't fit into socks, and even if I do, they're too tight and a hassle." Zhu Qi used his toes to pull the slippers towards him, then said after putting them on. "Let's leave it this way for now. I don't need to train for the next two days, and the doctor said the swelling should go down in a couple of days."
"Sister, Brother Daling, it's time to eat! I made your favorite tofu, come on!" Qin Xiaoba and A Shui came back after eating and called Zhu Qi to come over and eat with them.
As Zhu Qi limped over, Song Linzhou looked at Zhu Qi's feet thoughtfully.
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