36 The God-Slaying War
◎【1st update】Their goal is to pull the Chinese team down from the altar.◎
Ren Xinhua found the video of the Russian mixed doubles match and pulled Xu Dong, He Qianlu, Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou to watch the video together.
The Russian male mixed doubles teammate has blond hair that stands straight up.
In order to make it easier to distinguish, they made a vivid description of this point - Little Snow and Pineapple Head.
The video also includes the fight with Song Linzhou and Jin Lili.
Five people, ten eyes, watched the clips played on the VCR without blinking, because the video playback technology was not as advanced as it would be more than 20 years later, so it was impossible to play it frame by frame, but being able to archive it was already very good.
Xu Dong said, "This little Snow has learned the 'Biaobao' style of play. Even her serve is a perfect replica of the 'Biaobao' style, frame by frame. And she also has a unique skill: she can create a sidespin on her forehand. After the ball hits the table, it bounces and traces a strange arc to the left, sometimes even turning right. Her fans call her 'Two-Faced', meaning her ball's trajectory is unpredictable and difficult to predict."
This is very restraining for players of all forehand systems.
After she acquired the special skill, she could not be defended and could only avoid her.
Song Linzhou's backhand is weak, so he can only score by forehand.
So that game was very difficult because of the sidespin hit by Snow's forehand.
He Qianlu watched for a moment and then said, "That pineapple-haired guy looks like a slicer, but he's actually very aggressive with his backhand switch and pull. He's working with this woman, using a forehand side spin and a backhand pull and slice. That's quite an advanced tactic."
A chopper can counter the spin flow, and Zhu Qi is the latter.
From this perspective, the Russian mixed doubles team is a natural match for Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou.
Ren Xinhua soon discovered a crucial problem with Song Linzhou: "Your footwork is slow, and your offensive ability isn't up to par. This is causing your female teammates to constantly be beaten. Your backhand is weak with a traditional penholder, and your opponents will exploit this when you receive the ball. Lily wasn't able to reach her forehand area on the previous ball, which is why she's been losing points so frequently."
Song Linzhou nodded, agreeing with the Chairman's evaluation of him.
"This time, the Russian mixed doubles will definitely target this point. Even though they've been attacking their backhand for so long, they can't immediately correct all the flaws. When you meet them at the World Games, the battle won't be about the strength of your backhand. Don't use your weakness to compete head-on with their strength. Instead, you should pull their rhythm into your zone." Chairman Ren twirled the pen in his hand and formulated a three-word mantra for the young mixed doubles team on the white paper in front of him.
Fast, accurate and ruthless.
"When playing against Little Snow and Pineapple Head, don't worry about stalemates. Let Bao Bao attack near the table, and let Da Ling defend the mid-range and far-range positions. If a tactical bottleneck arises, you can temporarily let Bao Bao take the lead. In short, in one word! Defeat the enemy with one strike, and score in the first three shots!"
The two children nodded together.
In the evening, Ren Xinhua called a male chopper from the second team and Qin Xiaoba, and together they imitated Xiao Snow and Pineapple Head and practiced two games against Zhu Qi.
Nowadays, there are only a few pure slice-style shots in the world that can be counted on one hand.
Adhering to the idea that as long as it is available, the national team must be equipped with it, a little boy in the second team is a pure chopper.
Before this, Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou had no experience playing against pure choppers, after playing two games.
Zhu Qi sat on the stool and began to recall Guan Qiao's practice, when he suddenly heard Song Linzhou talking to him.
"Do you think it's hard for slicers to hit the center line?"
Zhu Qi came back to his senses and nodded. "The biggest feature of a slice shot is wide-angle defense. The left and right sides are the slicer's golden areas, which can effectively reduce the ball's spin. But if you pull the ball to the middle of his table, he'll have time to counterattack sideways, leaving him with a 0.5-second gap in between."
So what they need to do is to attack in this 0.5 seconds!
Bang! Bang! Dang! Bang!
The white ball shuttled back and forth on the net like a silver dragon with its tail swinging.
Normally, mixed doubles and men's doubles are not playable, but when Qin Xiaoba's sister was in the provincial team, she could challenge the male players one-on-one.
After a few rounds, the two boys at one end of the table were beaten so badly that they cried out in pain, while the boy and girl at the other side became more and more adept at playing, and even their positioning and coordination were completely different from when they first played in the first table tennis league.
Boom——
Zhu Qi smashed the ball with great force, and the white ball, with super strong rotation, bounced directly onto the forehead of Qin Xiaoba who was running.
He cried out "Ouch!" and squatted on the ground, holding his head. "Holy crap! Work injury!!"
Another little boy also collapsed to the ground, shaking his head repeatedly: "No, I really can't fight anymore. Coach Xu! Take a break, someone's going to die!"
Ren Xinhua, who was watching the game nearby, smiled even more deeply.
Done!
/
With five days left before the start of the World Games, all participating teams from China began preparing to leave for Tokyo.
Because you need to go there three days in advance to adapt to the venue, climate and environment.
Fortunately, China and Japan are separated by only a sea, so the temperature difference isn't that big. The only thing to adjust to is the food. Ah Shui bought a bunch of sauces and preserved fruits. She said, "You have no idea how salty things are in Japan. Their salt seems to be free. It's just salty, and it's served with free rice."
Zhu Qi and Maomao only had one suitcase, but Ah Shui wanted to carry three plus a half-person-high suitcase. One of the suitcases was filled with various snacks and even a few buckets of instant noodles.
Before checking in, Maomao reached out and picked up Ah Shui's luggage, shaking his head repeatedly: "Your overweight fee is almost as much as your plane ticket."
Miss Shanghai said it was time to sprinkle some water.
As the male coaches helped carry the things, Foye looked at the three boxes and yelled, "You're going to live in Japan! This is a competition! Not a vacation!"
But no matter what, the things were still transported up.
The children at the back are making noise, while the leaders at the front are reviewing their lives.
Watching the plane gradually ascend, Ren Xinhua, sitting in the front row, sighed with emotion: "Go back thirty years, and China and Japan hadn't yet fully restored foreign relations. I sat right here when I participated in the Yokohama Table Tennis Tournament as a player, with my head coach next to me. It's amazing how much time has passed."
Sitting next to Ren Xinhua now was Chang Hongxia, who loved to hear the Chairman tell stories from the past. She smiled and said, "Back then, you were able to defeat Yamamoto Aritoshi and raise the Chinese flag in Japan. We can do the same this time."
"Well said! This is encouraging!" The Buddha stood up with a smile, called the cat over from the back row, and gave it a few more instructions.
As the singles event is of utmost importance in the World Games, Foye devoted all his attention to Maomao during the closed training period. All the technical and tactical preparations have been made, and the only thing left is to adjust the mentality.
It is impossible for athletes to be free of pressure before participating in the three major competitions.
What coaches need to do is to help athletes relieve stress.
Thirty years ago... no, fifty years ago to be exact.
When Ren Xinhua was only seven or eight years old, Japan was the world's leading table tennis country.
Before Japan, Europe dominated table tennis for more than 50 years.
At that time, there was no television in every household, and people could only listen to radio broadcasts at work. Some people who could not hear clearly would even prepare a Questyle radio and hold it next to their ears to amplify the sound.
Because there were no pictures, we could only listen to the announcer's retelling.
So-and-so lost to someone from such-and-such country, and was defeated with a score of X to X.
"But we didn't give up. We screened talent from all over the country, recruiting anyone who showed promise and developing a training plan for the national team," Ren Xinhua said with a smile. "Back then, there wasn't a first or second national team; everything was managed uniformly. When I was a player, the government still gave me food stamps, but now it's just a salary."
Zhu Qi looked around, taking in the players who had been sparring with her throughout the closed training session, as well as the rehabilitator, fitness trainer, and team doctor who had traveled with the team. Finally, her gaze fell on her right hand, feeling as if it had been entrusted with a sacred mission.
This trip to the Tokyo World Games is indeed very different from the Macau World Cup two years ago.
Back then, she was alone and when she saw the other people on the national team, she always felt that they had nothing to do with her. But now that she has become one of them, she doesn't feel so lonely anymore.
Suddenly, a hand held her right hand.
The owner of the hand held Zhu Qi's hand and kissed it several times, then placed it on his heart and said devoutly: "My little darling, you must win the mixed doubles championship!"
Zhu Qi was amused by her and pulled his hand back: "That's so corny."
Ah Shui hugged Zhu Qi and said sweetly, "I'm worried about you~"
"Let go."
"No~I want to hug~~you!"
He Qianlu sat among the coaches in the front row, listening to the girl's cheerful voice, and his mood became much more relaxed.
It seems that it was right not to let her go to Zhugang and Yunwan back then. The national team is still the most suitable for her.
Grades are important, but a good environment can also make people mentally healthy.
Ren Xinhua is very optimistic about Zhu Qi and can also stimulate Zhu Qi's full potential.
He Qianlu trusts his former teacher very much, and similarly, he also trusts...Xu Dong.
When he was coaching Zhu Qi in the provincial team, He Qianlu thought that he only needed to teach Zhu Qi everything he knew. This child was smart and absorbed knowledge quickly, but he didn't expect that this copy-and-paste teaching method would allow the outsiders to understand and master Zhu Qi's playing style faster.
But during the few days of assisting in coaching the national team, He Qianlu felt that Xu Dong had been coaching this kid for two years, correcting some of Zhu Qi's deliberate imitations and guiding Zhu Qi to find a playing style that suits him better.
For example, when Zhu Qi was practicing looping balls, Xu Dong adjusted the degree of her rubber to make it easier for her to play, instead of asking Zhu Qi to practice hard all the time.
Now Zhu Qi's forehand has also improved some of the defects of the ball floating and has become more powerful.
This World Games...
Zhu Qi looked out the cabin window. The white clouds changed several times. It seemed that there was no difference, but the scenery under his feet had changed.
The human figure is like a floating being trapped in time, continuously moving as it rises and descends.
What is your previous life self doing now?
It seemed like I was practicing hard for my coaching qualification, or looking for a part-time job during the summer vacation... I can't remember it, after all, it was something from my previous life.
Speaking of this, in her previous life, after she had just entered technical school, her uncle came to visit her, asked about her life at school, and expressed his willingness to help her continue her studies after graduation.
But after she left with such cold words, she not only completely cut off contact with her aunt and uncle's family.
I don’t even know what happened to Qin Shang later.
The man always said that Qin Shang and she were only one-quarter related, and that his son was closer to Zhu Qi.
So it was natural to treat Zhu Qi as an ATM and a blood-sucking bank, and even if she died, her bones would be taken apart and exchanged for change.
So Zhu Qi didn’t know whether Qin Shang played table tennis in his previous life, but it was likely that he didn’t.
Because the ones that are typed out are the ones that are familiar to everyone.
The ocean beneath my feet transformed into many suspended islands, and the vast and distant clouds floated like plankton.
As the destination was about to be reached, A Shui became more and more excited, pulling the cat behind him to look down at the plane.
"Is that Ochanomizu University? I heard that Japan's new 'genius player', Haraka, is a student there. What does this school do? Does it teach cooking?"
Zhu Qi couldn't help but laugh out loud: "What? Its predecessor was a school specializing in education, and all the graduates are teachers."
"Oh, how come that teacher training student is now a physical education student? She doesn't even feel tired, she's good at both arts and sports?"
Maomao was amused and said with a smile: "They are different from us in Japan. We basically don't take academic classes after joining the provincial team, but they have to go back to school no matter how good they are in the game."
A Shui showed an expression of "I see".
There are not many purely professional athletes in the world, and the Chinese team is one of them.
When talking about this matter, Zhu Qi suddenly felt a little emotional.
This was partly why the Chinese national table tennis team was criticized so badly in the past.
At that time, many Chinese people said, "Other athletes have to take academic classes and train at the same time, but ours train every day and still can't beat them?"
Only people in the circle know how difficult it is to train another athlete who can win gold medals after being targeted by the International Table Tennis Federation.
Zhu Qi picked up a newspaper on the plane and took a look at the latest sports weekly.
Because it is now the World Games cycle, almost all the content revolves around the Tokyo World Games.
In a relatively conspicuous position in the lower right corner, there is a man with a small mustache wearing a Japanese flag on his chest, facing the camera with his fists clenched, like a general about to enter the battlefield.
There was a message next to it.
The Japanese head coach stated, "Winning a championship is not easy, but defending it is even harder. He believes that the Chinese team's position in the top three of table tennis is truly remarkable, and the Japanese team has made every possible effort to win gold. They internally refer to the table tennis event at this World Games as the 'God-killing Battle.'"
Everyone gasped and sounded the alarm at this moment.
This definitely doesn't sound like a compliment.
Rather, it is a naked declaration of war against the Chinese team.
Their goal is to bring the Chinese team down from the altar.
Then the page switched to the front of the newspaper, with the closing statement on the front page.
Seventy years ago, when the nation was facing a difficult time, our Chinese warriors went to the battlefield alone, overcoming thousands of miles of obstacles and paving a smooth road for the generations to come.
Seventy years later, 231 sons and daughters of the Chinese nation embarked on a long journey eastward, crossing seas and climbing mountains, like a raging fire igniting a prairie fire. Never forgetting the hardships endured by those who came before them, we bravely forge ahead, overcoming all obstacles.
The plane began to descend.
Zhu Qi looked at the approaching ground.
The war has begun.
【Author’s words】
①Excerpt from newspaper.
Finally got to the part about horses stepping on cherry blossoms! Wow——
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