171 Riyadh World Games-Mixed Team
◎But being a head coach is different, and the enemies you face are also different.◎
The news that Ren Xinhua was ill and hospitalized soon reached the ears of the outsourced companies.
For them, this is definitely great news.
Originally, everyone saw that the Chinese team won all five gold medals this time and thought that the team had no hope.
But if the head coach is hospitalized and unable to lead the team, then the nature of the matter is different.
The coaches from outside the association all gathered together inexplicably. Chad looked over and saw that almost all the coaches except the coach of the North Korean team had come.
The most excited among them were the coaches of the Japanese and Korean teams.
Several people gathered together and seemed to be having a casual discussion, but everyone's expression was filled with indescribable excitement.
After all, a team competition is not an individual event.
No matter how good this athlete is, he can only help the team score two points at most.
Moreover, the athlete may not play in both games. In addition, if one of the games consumes a lot of energy, he may not be able to play in the second game.
These people didn't care whether they could understand each other or whether their English was standard, and suddenly they formed a united front.
Some of the foreign players know that their abilities are average and they may not be able to beat the Chinese team, so they just serve as an ordinary atmosphere group.
The most anxious team is the Japanese team, which is in the same half of the zone as the Chinese team.
After Hara Xiang stopped playing, the Japanese women's team has hardly won any awards in this period.
Even the men's singles team, which usually performed well, failed to win anything this time.
Now we urgently need a sign to bring back home, otherwise the head coach of the Japanese team feels that he will have to commit seppuku in Riyadh to apologize.
Some dreamers are still wondering, what if... maybe... there's an 80% chance... they can still win a gold medal?
I heard that the guy nicknamed "The Imperial Bear" in the Chinese men's singles is injured again. The gold medalist in the men's singles seems to have suffered a muscle reaction, wrapped in bandages and taken for injections. The women's singles captain seems to have had a last-ditch effort and is in decent form, but after just seven games against Zhu Qi, she's almost completely drained of energy. Zhu Qi is even worse off. This is a team competition, not an individual one. They can just send in a random player to give away one game, and win the rest. The remaining two newcomers, Qin Shang and Fang Miao, aren't fully formed yet, and the Japanese team has been studying them for a long time...
Yosi.
There's hope!
Just as the Japanese coach began to deduce various Hinayana winning theories, the South Korean team also began to plot secretly.
The direction of their plan is basically the same as that of the Japanese team.
From Tokyo to Moscow to Riyadh.
Twelve years!
Twelve whole years!
Do you know how I have been through these twelve years?
Whenever the Korean table tennis team goes out to compete, they always receive a lot of criticism and complaints.
The only player in the team who can play was recruited from the Chinese team.
There were several times when I returned to China, and people spontaneously ran to the airport gate holding up signs saying "Korean table tennis team disbanded."
As the saying goes, don't fight for kimchi, fight for your dignity.
This time in Riyadh, the South Korean and Japanese teams are in similar situations.
Apart from a bronze medal in women's doubles, nothing else happened.
It would be great if I could bring back a silver medal.
With this in mind, the Japanese and South Korean teams unexpectedly agreed to jointly attack the Chinese team.
Their idea is also very simple.
The team competition is an event that relies heavily on the coach's command ability. Although victory in the competition is also related to the athletes' individual practical level, if the lineup is properly allocated, there is still a high probability of winning.
After dealing with the Chinese team for so many years, Japan and South Korea also know that part of the credit for the Chinese team's current position belongs to head coach Ren Xinhua.
Ever since Ren Xinhua traveled all the way to Jianghuai to bring Zhu Qi back, the development of the Chinese team has been unstoppable.
If it weren't for Zhu Qi, the Chinese team might have been defeated long ago.
They still don't believe it.
It’s not enough that Zhu Qi plays tennis well, but can he make a comeback in the team competition?
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The Chinese team is also very busy.
Under normal circumstances, the roster is finalized by the coaching staff and then submitted to the organizer. The roster is then kept confidential and the players will compete in order tomorrow.
But now that Ren Xinhua said that the list must be discussed by the coaching staff and Zhu Qi and Maomao, and finally Zhu Qi must confirm that there are no problems before it can be reported to the organizer, Zhu Qi and Maomao also participated in the internal discussions of the coaching staff.
Fortunately, when the Chinese team was in the round of 32 to 16 in the team competition, it met the Kazakhstan team. Judging from the overall strength level, it is not a top-level team in this World Games.
Not much pressure.
"Let Daxiong and Qin Shang play in the first match, Maomao and I will play in the second match, and Song Linzhou will play in the men's singles match in the third match..."
Zhu Qi stood in front of a small blackboard and scribbled down the names of the players. Then he looked back at the coaches and asked, "The Kazakh players are average. They can basically finish the match in the first three innings. What do you think, coaches?"
Everyone nodded slightly, with no objection to this arrangement.
But Shi Ge then asked, "After Daxiong finished playing in the men's singles this time, his old injury on his right arm relapsed severely. Can we put him aside for a while..."
Zhu Qi shook his head. "I talked to Daxiong on my way here. Daxiong said he's fine after the injection and can participate in the first round. Qin Shang is slow to warm up, so let Qin Shang and Daxiong play together in the first round. That way, Daxiong can mobilize Qin Shang first, and the main attack will still be Qin Shang..."
After a pause, Zhu Qi added something else: "I think there must be a lot of outside associations wondering if Daxiong's condition will be affected after the men's singles match. That's why I put Daxiong in the first place just to confuse people and let them know that Daxiong is in good condition and can still play a leading role."
The coaches had no objections, so the list was submitted according to Zhu Qi's final decision.
Although the list has been put up, the actual competition still depends on the course of the game.
Zhu Qi told the coaches, "The mixed team opening ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow. The players must be there at 8 a.m."
"What are you doing there so early?" asked the Buddha.
"Adapt to the court." Zhu Qi said.
When Ren Xinhua was coaching the team, he also liked to bring his players to the court early for team matches. He didn't really do much, just find a place to sit and spread out his things. If he felt really bored, he'd just find someone to go play basketball with.
In fact, this is also a psychological tactic.
When a person appears in an unfamiliar environment, as time goes by, if there are personal belongings nearby, this person will feel more at ease in this environment.
After submitting the list, Zhu Qi and Maomao also prepared to return to their suite to rest.
Maomao actually understood Zhu Qi's intention in making this arrangement. She said, "Based on my observation, I think our current level is no worse than any of the players from the teams that have registered. I'm just worried that Xiao Ba, A Shui, and the others will get anxious because Chairman Ren is away..."
Zhu Qi also meant this: "That's right, especially Qin Shang, he's quite worrying right now..."
A head popped out from the men's dormitory next door. Qin Xiaoba had a toothbrush in his mouth and a towel hung around his neck. He looked complaining, "Why don't you trust me? I'm doing great now!"
Zhu Qi and Maomao were still talking when they were startled by Qin Xiaoba.
Qin Xiaoba felt that he had played well in men's doubles this time and had won the game. When he saw Zhu Qi, he smiled and walked forward, "How about it? Can I play a few games tomorrow?"
Maomao laughed and said, "Just one round, how many more rounds do you want?"
"What! Why only one match? You're not going to put me in the last mixed doubles match, are you? No, no, no! At least give me one in the men's singles. What if the match ends after the first three games? I won't even have a chance to play..."
Qin Xiaoba said this while blowing bubbles out.
Zhu Qi moved away from Qin Xiaoba with disdain and said, "If you can't win the first men's doubles match, you'll die."
"[3:0]." Qin Xiaoba gestured to the number, beaming with pride. "If I can't take it, I'll hang myself on the table."
Zhu Qi arranged Song Linzhou in the men's singles, mainly because he wanted to take advantage of the fact that Song Linzhou had just won the men's singles gold medal and was in good shape to win it in one go.
In fact, the women's singles and women's doubles matches that followed were not important, because Zhu Qi felt that the match could be won directly in the first three games.
But what Zhu Qi didn't expect was that in the team competition on the second day, the first two games were exactly as he expected. Qin Xiaoba and Daxiong quickly won the first game of men's doubles, and he and Maomao also took advantage of the victory to catch up.
However, the Kazakhstan team requested to change the order of the third game and start the mixed doubles of the fifth game early on the grounds that they were the weaker team.
This made Zhu Qi, who was participating in the list arrangement for the first time, a little alert.
There is indeed such a rule in team competitions.
If the weaker side loses the first two games, they can adjust the order of the third game so that it does not start with the men's singles, but the weaker side can choose to play the women's singles or mixed doubles first.
Zhu Qi also knew that there was such a rule, but considering the huge gap in strength between the Chinese team and the Kazakhstan team, he didn't take it too seriously, believing that it was impossible for the men's doubles, women's doubles, and men's singles to lose.
Even if there were any unexpected events in the first three games, the women's singles and mixed doubles could always win another game.
So A Shui and Song Linzhou were arranged to play mixed doubles.
Logically speaking, two left-handed players have no way to play. Zhu Qi made such arrangements because he felt that the Chinese team and the Kazakhstan team could not play a full seven games because the level gap between the two sides was too big.
The Kazakhstan team obviously also did some research on this point. When they saw that mixed doubles seemed to be a breakthrough point, they chose to play mixed doubles first.
Zhu Qi had just finished playing women's doubles and immediately returned to the coaching seat to watch the next mixed doubles match with Master Fo.
Buddha sat upright on the stool, feeling a little anxious as he watched the first game unfold with some strange coordination due to the two left-handed players.
Although the tolerance rate is relatively high after winning the first two games, it would definitely be better to win the first three games as soon as possible.
Halfway through the second game, Zhu Qi urgently called a timeout for A Shui and Song Linzhou.
Many people don’t understand why Zhu Qi called a timeout at this time. If someone could hear what the coaches said during the communication, they would know that Zhu Qi was giving A Shui a very thrilling task.
"If your steps overlap and you can't hit the ball, just use your right hand."
Zhu Qi only said this one sentence, but Ah Shui suddenly understood.
Song Linzhou understood Zhu Qi's arrangement and said to Ah Shui, "Fight as hard as you can."
A Shui nodded hurriedly, and after the break, the two returned to the court.
Song Linzhou and A Shui moved a little, and the two people on the opposite side obviously couldn't keep up with their speed, and the situation suddenly turned in the direction of the Chinese team.
Although the quality of A Shui's right-handed ball cannot be compared with that of his left-handed one, the level of these two Kazakhstan players is basically the same as that of the Chinese provincial team members, so it is more than enough to beat them.
In the end, A Shui and Song Linzhou won the third game with a score of [3:1], and the Chinese team successfully advanced.
Although it was the first time that a battle was won without Ren Xinhua in command, Zhu Qi did not feel very relieved or happy, because there were more difficult battles to come.
She and Mr. Buddha stood up at the same time and applauded the players who were about to shake hands after the game.
When the palms of my hands touch, they feel slightly numb and warm.
Is this what it feels like to be a head coach?
Watch the players' scores add up one by one, and follow the brain to process the follow-up of each ball and plan scoring strategies for them.
Although he had been a coach for a while before, he only had four or five players under him at most.
But being a head coach is different, and the enemies you face are also different.
This feeling of siege and capture...
There is a more unique kind of blood boiling.
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