75 China-US Exchange Competition
◎She should be the strongest representative of the Chinese team, right?◎
The first four days of training went on smoothly.
During training, the teams did not interfere with each other. At most, they would go over to watch other teams train after they finished training, and then leave on their own. No one would rush to chat with them.
Plus, most of the players this time are boys, so there is even less to say.
The only one who could chat with the women's team was the table tennis player from the Hong Kong team, Jia Jia.
Jiajia’s Mandarin is not very good, but she can speak some basic communication skills. After chatting for a long time, I can even understand some of what she is saying.
During lunch, the women's team will also bring Jia Jia along.
Jiajia isn't picky about food, and the cafeteria on Tiantan East Road is famous for its delicious food. Every time we go, you can see her eating different dishes. She said, "My coach chases me around with a digital scale all day, yelling, 'Yin Gong!' I'm so jealous of you guys for having so much to eat every day and for being able to eat as much as you can without gaining weight."
"It's normal for athletes to eat a lot. We consume so much and digest it very quickly. Sometimes I also eat four meals a day. If I don't have a midnight snack, I will easily wake up hungry in the middle of the night." Ah Shui said as he shoveled tofu stewed with beef into his mouth.
Jia Jia on the opposite side joined in the digging.
Maomao and Zhu Qi next to them looked at the two people with amusement. If you didn’t know, you would think it was an eating contest.
"Jia Jia, you speak Chinese quite well. At least you can understand what we are saying." Maomao said with a smile.
Jia Jia took another sip of her soup and said with a smile, "My mixed doubles partner is from mainland China. You know, when I was the only girl on the Hong Kong team, a bunch of boys would surround me for practice. I was so sweaty and smelly.
Ah Shui scratched his face with his chopsticks: "Huh? I thought it was Brother Fat Tiger who taught you that. Turns out there are mainlanders on your team."
Calculated according to the age of the body.
Jiajia is three years older than Zhu Qi, four years older than Ashui, and one year younger than Maomao.
But Jia Jia, probably because she loves sweets, has a white, round face and round eyes. She looks like a cute little glutinous rice cake, as if sesame candy will flow out if you poke her face with your hand. So Jia Jia looks more like the youngest among the four.
Jia Jia looked at Zhu Qi and chattered a lot in Cantonese. Because she spoke too fast and there was a mixture of Mandarin and Cantonese, Zhu Qi couldn't hear clearly.
Ah Shui's parents have been involved in foreign trade and frequently fly between Guangdong and Zhuhai. Ah Shui, who has been exposed to Cantonese since childhood and understands some Cantonese, served as the translator. "She said she was there watching you play the women's singles tournament in Zhuhai at the end of last year. She thought you were really good and wanted to play women's doubles with you."
Maomao praised, "Ah Shui, you have a great talent for languages. You can understand Cantonese so quickly." Then he turned to Jiajia and said, "Baobao has sprained her right foot recently. The team doctor said she doesn't recommend strenuous exercise."
Jia Jia showed a regretful expression, but soon said cheerfully: "It's a question. It's quite fun to practice here for a few days."
The women’s team is having a great time chatting here.
The men's team doesn't seem to be doing so well.
Seeing Zhu Qi and the others chatting happily with the girls from the Hong Kong team, Qin Xiaoba ran over and said jealously, "You've only known each other for a few days, and you're already so close? When you go to the competition, you'll be opponents across the table from us. Don't spread everything around..."
Ah Shui was puzzled when he heard this: "Why is that so strange? We didn't say anything, just talked about eating and drinking. Don't judge others by your own standards. We don't have as many tricks as you guys do."
"You... I'm just trying to remind you out of kindness!" Qin Xiaoba muttered, looking at Zhu Qi. "Brother Fat Tiger said that the girl from the Hong Kong team is preparing for the mixed doubles competition and will compete with us for the gold medal in the future!"
Zhuhai and Hong Kong have not yet officially returned.
From the perspective of others except Zhu Qi, they are indeed two different camps.
After the return, it also belongs to the "one country, two systems" policy, and Zhuhai and Hong Kong can participate in world competitions in the name of the region.
Long ago, Zhu Qi also wondered why "One Country, Two Systems" was necessary, rather than "One Country, One System" to eliminate future problems. She had always considered herself a remarkably accurate hawk, but considering the situation in the 1990s—the Soviet Union had just collapsed in 1991—the situation was like "one child, fifteen treasures." For her family, if it wanted to avoid dismemberment, "One Country, Two Systems" was the best solution.
Although for the people, there is not much difference between the Chinese team winning the gold medal and the China Zhuhai-Hong Kong team winning the gold medal.
But for individual athletes, they must hold the gold medal in their own hands.
But the cat felt a little strange.
After being a captain for a long time, I always look at things from a multi-dimensional perspective.
Baobao actually doesn’t have much interest in mixed doubles. She has always wanted to play in the women’s singles at the World Games.
The Zhuhai-Hong Kong team wants to win the mixed doubles gold medal, which is also a headache for the coaching staff.
Could it be that Qin Xiaoba felt that the coaching staff intended to train him and A Shui to be the next mixed doubles successors of the "Qilin Combination", and if the Zhugang team produced a chosen mixed doubles, it would put more pressure on him and A Shui?
Ah Shui disagreed: "Why do you like to listen to what others say so much? Fat Tiger is not on our team anymore. He will represent the Hong Kong team and compete with you for the men's singles in the future."
"But Brother Fat Tiger has been with the national team for seven years! No matter what, his heart is with us..."
The two quarreled for a while, and then Zhu Qi and Maomao finished their meal and prepared to pack up and leave.
Ever since the American team arrived, the players who initially found it interesting have started to get bored.
There is a person who looks like a boy, speaks and acts like a boy, but for some reason everyone insists that he is a girl. He appears here and everything he does seems a little weird.
Anyway, there are only two days left before we can send these grown men away.
Be patient.
Apart from the head coaches of each team, the other head coaches had language barriers and basically had nothing to talk about except using gestures or calling Zhu Qi over to act as an interpreter.
If this continues, then these seven days will not be particularly difficult.
The most difficult part is that starting from the fifth day, we have to randomly pair up for doubles.
The euphemism is mutual technical exchange.
But because most of the players this time are boys, we can only form a men's doubles team.
"After four days of intensive training, I think everyone has gotten to know each other a little better," Ren Xinhua said earnestly, standing before the national table tennis players. "We may have different customs and languages, but we all share a common passion for table tennis. This time, several teams have been randomly paired up for doubles matches. Friendship comes first, competition second. The most important thing is to avoid excessive verbal abuse and avoid giving the opponent the cold shoulder when losing points."
Anyway, there are only two days left.
The coaching staff also breathed a sigh of relief.
Four friendly matches.
It officially starts on Friday morning.
Since friendship comes first and competition comes second, there aren't many matches, with a best-of-three format and 11 points per game.
The main point is to get it right.
Because there were few girls, a women's doubles and men's doubles event was organized.
A Shui and Jia Jia won a small victory against Fat Tiger and a male player from Yunwan.
Because A Shui and Jia Jia are girls, and this is the first time these two girls are paired together and they have not developed any tacit understanding in advance, the men's doubles team has to give three points in each game, starting with [A Shui/Jia Jia 3:0 Fat Tiger/small win].
While others were sitting in the spectator seats on all sides, Maomao, as the captain, also had to observe the daily training of the players on his team.
Jia Jia is right-handed and A Shui is left-handed, and both of them have a basic foundation in doubles, so they can match well as soon as they take the court.
Although the men's doubles won the first game, they quickly came back in the second game.
Zhu Qi sat next to Maomao, watching the two girls at the table running towards each other, pulling the ball, filling in positions, and scoring... He tilted his head slightly to chat with Maomao: "A Shui is still playing too conservatively. She didn't even use the backhand shot."
"Yeah, Ah Shui wants to retain his strength. But after Fat Tiger joined the Hong Kong team, I feel his skills have improved a lot." Maomao said while recording in his notebook.
Zhu Qi took a look and found that a lot of the content written on it was about the areas where Maomao discovered that Ah Shui needed to improve during the competition.
As a fake left-handed person, A Shui’s hand strength has always been a weakness.
In order to improve A Shui's hand strength, Chang Hongxia had previously arranged some muscle-building and barbell pulling training, but later discovered that the muscles trained were all dead muscles that could not be used for hitting the ball.
However, when Ah Shui was practicing reverse shooting later, Chang Hongxia discovered that Ah Shui's fingers were particularly flexible.
After two years of practice, A Shui has indeed improved a lot compared to before.
Even Fat Tiger, who was standing across the table, found it difficult to catch A Shui's ball because A Shui's ball was already spinning.
A Shui performed well, and Zhu Qi began to focus his attention on Jia Jia.
As the Hong Kong team's signature chopper, he also uses a chopping and attacking style.
The so-called slicing ball can be understood as the knife-cut noodle technique.
Many knife-cut noodle chefs will hold a dough, and then use one hand to hold the kitchen knife to cut out noodles from top to bottom, and the ball-cutting hand is similar.
The only difference is that the noodle cutter cuts the noodles, while the ball cutter cuts off the spin on the ball.
Every time Fat Tiger tried to pull the ball into a long ball and chop it into Jiajia's forehand area, Jiajia would slice it, canceling out all the spin on the ball, and then pulling it back into a ball with weak or no spin.
Then when the next male player wanted to add weight to the ball, the ball either hit the net or fell out of the table.
Fat Tiger wanted to steal three long balls, but they were all cut back by Jia Jia.
There were voices of praise all around, praising the Hong Kong team girl's amazing chopping skills.
"Look at Jiajia's steps." Maomao whispered, prompting Zhu Qi to look at Jiajia's legs.
Every time Jia Jia catches the ball, her feet bounce up and down.
It was not the regular crab step, nor was it the small jumping steps that Zhu Qi had learned from He Qianlu since childhood.
Seeing Zhu Qi's thoughtful expression, Maomao explained, "The Hong Kong team dances this way, with a bouncing step. I heard from Master Fo that the Hong Kong team coach combined the Chinese crab step with the commonly used European steps, creating a Western-style fusion. They call it the 'spring step' internally."
Although small steps also involve jumping up and down, the left and right feet overlap and jump, and when one foot is lifted up, the other one will step on the ground and grab the ground to maintain balance and center of gravity.
But the "spring step" is to lift and jump both feet together.
The whole person looks... very elastic?
Overhearing the women's team discussing the "spring step," Da Xiong, who was nearby, came over with interest and shared some information he knew: "This 'spring step' is very suitable for the Hong Kong team's style of play. They've been practicing slice shots lately, but this girl is just better at it. The 'spring step' involves pushing the knees up when jumping, which also activates the waist, shoulders, and arms, allowing the racket to slice the ball as the body naturally sinks."
I see.
Zhu Qi and Maomao understood.
The two girls beside the table gradually developed a tacit understanding in their cooperation.
When the men's doubles and women's doubles each scored one point, the men's doubles seemed determined to fight for it and quickly win the game.
Fat Tiger gathered his strength and took a half step forward.
Although he was just a sparring partner in the national team, he had been in the team for seven years anyway, so his basic skills must be good.
From the moment Fat Tiger moved forward from behind, Zhu Qi guessed his intention.
Fat Tiger raised the racket from bottom to top and made a lob motion, trying to attack the weakest corner of Jia Jia's backhand area.
The ball flew past with a whoosh.
As we all know, the best part of the slice for a chopper is the forehand.
Moreover, Jiajia is right-handed, so it is smoother for her to cut the board from top to bottom.
But now Fat Tiger hit her backhand area, which means Jia Jia has to move her body to the left, then face the back side outward and use her right hand to slice the ball with the back force.
At this time, it is easy to fail to keep up with the rotation of the ball, resulting in a failed slice, the ball going out of bounds or giving the opponent an opportunity to attack.
But Jiajia didn't seem afraid of the opponent hitting the ball into her backhand. Her chubby body was incredibly agile, like a glutinous rice dumpling. She turned completely around! With her back to the table, her right hand moved from left to right, and with a twist of her waist, she easily removed all the spin from the ball!
She's like a nimble ice dancer, and if she were wearing skates she'd look more like a figure skater than a table tennis player.
Every slice was done with great grace.
The ball was mixed with an astonishing zero spin.
When he hit the ball back unsteadily, another male player from Yunwan reflexively took a step back to try to get a short shot, but accidentally hit the ball onto the net.
[Big score: A Shui/Jia Jia 2:1 Fat Tiger/small win]
"Wow--"
Everyone watching the game applauded, especially the Zhugang coaches who were very satisfied with Jiajia's performance and praised her in Cantonese which Zhu Qi could not understand.
Jia Jia shook hands with A Shui very happily, and they hugged each other when leaving.
When Ah Shui returned, her body still drenched in sweat from her workout, she found her match with Jia Jia quite enjoyable, but was also surprised by the skill of the Hong Kong team's chopper. "Honestly, the nickname 'Crane' really lives up to its reputation," she said.
"She can slice back Fat Tiger's balls that are so powerful and spinning, but what about loop balls?" Maomao asked.
Ah Shui shook his head: "I don't know, but I think it should be about right."
Jiajia's slice is powerful not only because it can eliminate all tricky spins, but also because it shows that this girl has a high level of ball reading, can figure out the ball's rotation path, and has a deep understanding of the ball.
Instead, Jia Jia's playing style involves both slicing and attacking.
Just now when Fat Tiger and Jia Jia were pulling each other, Zhu Qi had a feeling.
A Shui has become Jia Jia's foil.
As long as Jiajia wants to attack, the opponent can only defend. But when the opponent wants to attack, Jiajia does not give the opponent a chance, but just frequently slices, slices, slices...
Make the opponent feel like he is using all his strength but punching cotton.
"Don't be fooled by Jiajia's chubby arms and legs. She may not have long arms or a tall stature, but her core strength is quite strong." Ah Shui sat down next to Maomao, took a deep breath, and began to adjust. "When our provincial team coaches used to select players, they always said they preferred tall players with long arms and strong defensive skills."
Maomao said, "But there are exceptions to everything. After all, not everyone can become a hexagonal warrior. If you can excel in one indicator, you can still carve out your own niche."
After that, it was the doubles match between other male players.
It is said to be an exchange competition, but in fact it is just an exhibition competition.
No one would take it seriously as a world competition, and no one would fight each other to death over a small exhibition match.
The boys were rather mischievous, and while playing, they started running around each other around the table.
Sometimes I run to your side to fight, sometimes I run to his side to fight.
What's more, it's four people and two teams playing doubles.
Because it was an exchange match, the coaches on both sides did not provide off-field guidance, so the boys could only communicate with each other and their partners.
But Mandarin, dialects, Cantonese and Hokkien are all over the place, and some of the words are hard to understand.
This scene is really interesting.
The coaches watched from the sidelines and laughed, but they would still applaud from time to time to encourage the players to play well.
The only thing that makes people feel strange is.
The American team sat on the sidelines and watched the entire game, and no one showed any intention of playing.
Ah Shui had rested enough, his breath evened out. He looked at the American team and muttered, "Are these American men really here to enjoy themselves? Are they here to train? To compete? Or to sightsee?"
Zhu Qi looked at the group of foreigners in navy sportswear. Although the American head coach was also chatting with Ren Xinhua, for some reason he gave people a sense of... superiority emanating from his bones.
They all crossed their arms, squinted their eyes, and looked at the players playing on the table with an expression of interest, scrutiny, and appreciation.
It's like an ancient Greek arena.
The beasts were pulling the ball against each other next to the table, and they were the nobles sitting in the stands watching the beasts fight, and from time to time they would pick up the water glasses next to them and clink glasses with each other to drink.
Starting from the third game of the men's doubles match, Zhu Qi could still hear some cheering coming from the United States.
There were ghostly shouts like "Hit the angle!" "Run!" "Too slow, too slow!" "Shoot him! Go!"
Then I looked at the Asian boys at the table, who were dizzy, sweaty, and busy having fun, and laughed along.
This attitude made even the usually innocent Ah Shui feel uncomfortable, let alone the loudmouthed Qin Xiaoba. He gritted his teeth, wanting to slam his racket at them: "What are these people doing? Do they think it's fun to tease us Asians? Why do we feel like we're watching monkeys? They can't even watch the game in a civilized manner? Do they think this is just an exhibition match to please them?"
The words may be rough, but the truth is there.
That's what the US team players are doing now.
The fifth game was over. The players on the American team were holding up their water cups, tapping the edges of the cups, and chattering some very uncomfortable sounds.
This situation lasted for two full days of the so-called "friendly exchange match."
The next day, this group of Americans not only did not restrain themselves at all, but even brought some bottles and cans of soda, and it seemed that they were really here for a dinner party.
Look at the virtues of this group of people.
A surge of anger rose in Zhu Qi's chest, and this ball of anger was stuck in his chest, gradually expanding as the American team shouted.
Inside the dark blue team, a guy with long blond hair, a baseball cap on his head, and chewing bubble gum sat at the very edge. He stared fixedly at the red area facing him, searching for his target within that sea of red.
The American coach next to her whispered something, and "she" raised her head slightly, her eyes fixed on a young girl in the red crowd.
"I think she should be the strongest representative of the Chinese team, right? Arrange a match between me and her."
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