94 Moscow World Games - Women's Singles
◎ Make a contract with the devil.◎
The cat's attack became more fierce.
Although the blisters on the soles of her feet had not healed, even her socks were soaked with blood when she went out in the morning.
Zhu Qi had developed blisters on his hands before due to wear and tear during training, and knew that every movement for the cat was like walking on a knife edge.
Even so, the cat's speed was not at a disadvantage.
Sister Xia once told Zhu Qi that Maomao was a "white paper" and a model student in the team.
But in fact, Zhu Qi feels that Maomao also has the shadow of "black bones". Every athlete with faith is strong and unwilling to fall behind.
Because Maomao suddenly played more aggressively, Jin Lili began to be unable to keep up with Maomao's rhythm.
Maomao ran around the court, and when he raised his hand to pull the racket, he was able to keep up with the speed of his arm swing, and the impact of each forehand loop ball was maximized.
The balls that hit the table were like meteorites, seemingly able to shatter the airflow brought by the white ball when they landed on the table.
Jin Lili's scalp went numb and her steps became disordered.
"Beautiful! Good shot!! Just play it like this! You are the best! She can't beat you!!!" Ah Shui shouted, screamed and jumped, wishing he could go on the court and play with Maomao.
It was obvious that Ah Shui said the last sentence on purpose for Jin Lili to hear.
Maomao has actually been practicing loop balls for quite some time. He has been hitting several enhanced topspin balls with Zhu Qi since the Tokyo cycle.
Later, the team organized a loop group, and a group of people practiced with Zhu Qi, and the coaches also conducted research.
Basically everyone is equipped with this skill, but Zhu Qi can hit a loop shot every time, while the failure rate of others is relatively high.
But now it seems that the cat has practiced quite well.
Zhu Qi has a lot of skills that he has mastered since he was a child. He started practicing loop shots and tried all kinds of tricks when he was 15 years old. It is impossible for Jin Lili to catch up with him overnight.
Even though Han Taiyang also spent a lot of effort and asked Jin Lili to practice overtime, it was already a testament to Jin Lili's hard work and talent that she was able to reach 70% or 80% of the level.
At the beginning, she could still hold the situation, but once the cat caught up with her speed, Jin Lili's operation began to deteriorate.
Maomao hit the ball with his forehand, and while Jin Lili was not reacting in time, he sneaked into the small triangle position in the backhand area.
When Jin Lili defended subconsciously, her hand movements failed to keep up with her brain, causing the racket shape to look very twisted.
Bang!!
The ball hit the net and rolled around on the table.
Jin Lili didn't even need to look up to know that Han Taiyang's face looked very ugly.
This ball was not caught well.
Every day of training in Korea.
Han Taiyang used Zhu Qi as a benchmark, having Jin Lili start from the basics. He split one day into two, leaving only six hours for sleep. The rest of the time was basically spent on packaging Jin Lili into a different person.
Every shot, every run, every swing of the arm to pull the ball.
Everyone has to do the same thing as Zhu Qi.
Zhu Qi watched from the side. Jin Lili was restricted by a shell and all her actions could only be carried out within a prescribed range.
It was as if they were being forcibly bound to the system and all actions had to strictly follow the direction set by Han Taiyang.
But in that short second.
Jin Lili had a feeling that the host had escaped the control of the system, as if she was thinking about how to fight back against the cat ball if she followed her previous system?
But that was only a brief second.
Jin Lili immediately fell into the shadow of someone else.
She obviously hated Zhu Qi so much, but she had to become the person she hated.
That's why Zhu Qi told her that he felt sorry for her.
Is she pitiful?
Jin Lili was unwilling to admit this.
Jin Lili had no way to fight back, no way to defy the manipulation of the Korean coaches. She could either become a robot like Zhu Qi who could win gold medals, or become a person with no voice in the international arena.
South Korea used a beautiful blueprint to weave a golden dream for her.
Zhu Qi didn't believe that Han Taiyang would be so kind, and he had no intention of teaching Jin Lili seriously, otherwise he would not force someone to adapt to a tactical system that was not suitable for him.
Even though he was selected into the national team because of his similar playing style to He Qianlu, Xu Dong never thought of turning Zhu Qi into another He Qianlu, let alone letting Zhu Qi go all the way on the path of learning He Qianlu without looking back.
All along, Xu Dong has been trying to find ways to help Zhu Qi break through faster and expand his "arsenal".
Han Taiyang is an athlete himself, and he knows the gap between Jin Lili and Zhu Qi better than anyone else.
Technology is constantly innovating and getting better every day.
When others use this technique, it means that this technique has been researched for a long time and is confirmed to be effective before it is brought to the competition field, while you may have been secretly figuring out the next set of techniques.
Maomao scored two big scores in a row.
[Big score, Zu Tianjiao 3:2 Jin Lili]
At this time, it was the Korean side's turn to call a timeout for Kim Lili.
Zhu Qi didn't know what Han Taiyang and Jin Lili said, but judging from the situation on the scene, it would be very difficult for Jin Lili to catch up in the sixth game.
But after Han Taiyang finished speaking, Jin Lili showed a hint of hesitation, but this hesitation gradually disappeared as Han Taiyang continued chattering.
Finally, Han Taiyang reached out and patted Jin Lili's shoulder, and held Jin Lili's shoulders tightly as he repeated his words.
Jin Lili finally showed a determined expression and returned to the pool table.
Zhu Qi frowned and took a deep breath.
There were many foreigners watching the match between Jin Lili and Maomao.
They all knew that Jin Lili immigrated to South Korea, and that China and South Korea often sparked conflicts in various competitions.
What they like most is to see Chinese people fighting against Chinese people.
Under normal circumstances, the next round should still be a draw, but I'm afraid... the Korean team will come up with some new tricks.
Jin Lili took the initiative to attack from the beginning. Knowing that her blocking was useless against Maomao, she began to frequently use long-range long balls, trying to pull Maomao to the far table.
The speed running ball is quite good.
After the swing speed is connected, almost every ball is a low-spin, high-quality ball.
Seeing that Maomao's figure was gradually moving towards the distant platform, Zhu Qi felt something was wrong.
"In this case, Jin Lili will take the initiative again." Zhu Qi said in a low voice.
Back and forth, the ball hits the table, lands, bounces, and flies out...
Jin Lili was ready to go all out, and kept hitting forehand diagonal balls with Maomao from the far table.
The ball flew in an arc in the air and then flew back in an arc.
The cat scurried around the table, hitting the ball with a powerful swing. Every muscle in its body was tensed to the utmost, making it feel like every shot was incredibly powerful. Just by listening to the sound, you could sense how heavy the white ball was when it hit.
Although there were a few balls in the middle, Maomao planned to play short and pull back to a position close to the table.
But Jin Lili still risked losing points and tried her best to keep the cat at a distance.
"Jin Lili intends to use her own weaknesses to compete with Maomao's weaknesses, and wants to see if she can be lucky enough to get one or two points from Maomao." Zhu Qi analyzed.
As long as the ball hit by Maomao was a little high, Jin Lili would immediately smash it hard, and then both sides would move to the middle and long table to suppress Maomao's rotation, preventing Maomao from hitting high-quality serves and forcing Maomao to play with her at a connecting speed.
It's like two people holding a submachine gun and a pistol, fighting each other face to face.
Jin Lili held the submachine gun, but she didn't want to compete with Maomao in accuracy, but to see who could shoot faster.
"Why does Jin Lili keep adjusting the angles? Isn't she afraid of making mistakes?" Ah Shui is also a player who plays close to the middle table. When playing doubles, he and Zhu Qi basically run back and forth close to the table.
Zhu Qi said: "It's just to attrition the opponent. We want to make Maomao make mistakes so we can score."
In fact, Zhu Qi also likes to play transitions. When she played against Maomao in the Chinese Games, she based her game on multiple boards and then mobilized Maomao to move towards multiple boards.
Maomao's ball is of very high quality. The first three boards are almost all heavy and not easy to lose, but they will become weak after playing for a long time.
It seems that Jin Lili is using the same tactics that Zhu Qi used in the Chinese Games to fight against Maomao.
The commentators watching Maomao's game were also worried for her.
This ball is actually quite dangerous. For both players, whoever can seize the initiative first will score.
[I don't think there's any need for Maomao to force his opponent. He can just play a few backhands and pull the situation back...]
[Now it seems that Jin Lili may also hope to disrupt Maomao's rhythm by playing from a distance, delaying the game as much as possible.]
[Actually, the longer the match goes on, the worse it is for Maomao, because both of them seem to have exhausted their energy...]
The line at the far table is stretched and then pulled over, which requires a high level of control over the angle of the ball, sense of space, and the line of the ball flying back.
The national team has also conducted exercises for long-range shooting before, such as catching the ball on the pile, but it was only auxiliary training.
If Jin Lili wanted to create a wider angle with Maomao, it would mean that she would also risk losing points.
But Jin Lili is not Zhu Qi after all. Her connection speed is not as fast as Zhu Qi's...
The cat stared at the distance the white ball was flying towards, and was ready to pounce towards the landing point of the ball!
The speed is very fast and the hitting point is also very accurate!
Zhu Qi thought to himself, this ball can be put on the table!
Amid the exclamations of the people around him, Maomao successfully hit a long ball almost three meters away from the table.
The white ball traced a crescent in the air, flew back to the vicinity of the table... and then, under everyone's gaze, slowly bounced towards the edge of the table...
Snap!
The table bounced out below the white line!
According to the table tennis rules, as long as the ball hits the thickness of the edge of the table, it will count as a point.
This point belongs to Maomao, and he is currently leading by four points!
[Small score, Zu Tianjiao 9:5 Jin Lili]
Two points left!
Just got it!!
The cat breathed a sigh of relief when it saw the ball bounce off the table, but when it stood up, its body suddenly stiffened!
This feeling of stiffness was like someone hitting her back with a stick, causing her expression to slightly frown for a moment, and then she took a breath and paced back and forth for a while.
Oh no.
Could it be that the blocking injection is not effective enough?
Coach Cun also noticed the abnormality of Maomao. His eyes were wide open and he stared at Maomao's every move, ready to call a medical timeout for Maomao at any time.
But the cat only paused for a second and then stood up again.
He seemed unharmed as he walked to the side of the table to finish the last two balls, then jumped in place and took two steps, seemingly without any problems.
The cat handled the next two balls very beautifully.
No chance was left for Jin Lili.
With the continuous cheers from the audience, Maomao successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
Celebratory music filled the entire stadium.
Today, all four members of the Chinese team successfully advanced in individual events.
All the coaches in the stands breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to applaud.
After the players from both sides shook hands, A Shui was the first to rush up and hug Maomao, not at all bothered by the sweat on Maomao's body.
"That's amazing, that's amazing! My heart was pounding in the middle of it, and I almost asked the chairman to borrow a blood pressure pill." Ah Shui was overjoyed. "If that means you and Bao Bao are both in the quarterfinals, and you're definitely in the semifinals!"
Ah Shui thinks that in the next match, Maomao will face a female player from Kazakhstan, while Zhu Qi will face Yuan Xiang from the Japanese team who has lost to her many times.
These two players are not at the same level of competition, so the quarterfinals will definitely be a breeze!
Compared with the cheers of the Chinese team, the atmosphere on the Korean side was obviously much more depressing.
Jin Lili had no idea how she got back to the Korean team's locker room. She only knew that her Korean teammates were looking at her with contempt and sarcasm. She didn't even need to go back to Korea to guess how the Korean media would evaluate her.
——[Why would such a heavy task be entrusted to a person from the north and a Chinese immigrant?]
——[Are we paying taxes so hard just to go to international competitions and watch others beat our athletes to a pulp? A bunch of tax thieves!]
——[Can't we, the Republic of Korea, send someone who is capable of winning a gold medal? What the hell is the Korean Sports Authority doing? Ah Xi!]
When I was in China, I felt that coaches and fans were very strict with athletes.
We often receive letters from fans from all over the country to the General Administration of Sports.
Some were mailed to the players, temporarily placed at the General Administration of Sport before being sorted and distributed to the various national teams. Others were sent directly to the General Administration's office, containing letters of praise or criticism, which were then distributed to the national teams by the General Administration's leaders, conveying the public's wishes.
In this day and age, there are people specifically responsible for reviewing these letters from the public.
China has a large territory and a high population density, and with the subsequent popularization of television, the number of letters received every day is also very large.
Jin Lili received some messages when she was on the national team, but most of them were criticisms or sermons from people who pretended to know nothing, so she didn't like to read them.
But after arriving in South Korea, she discovered that the Korean people were the real crazy ones.
They really will hold demonstrations, post big-character posters, throw red paint, and throw rotten eggs everywhere because they are dissatisfied with an athlete, and then send all kinds of death threats and threatening letters and a bunch of other things to the national team.
After all, China's smallest province is larger than the total area of South Korea. Anyway, it only takes half a day to get from Pohang to Seoul on the highway.
If it weren't for the silver medal in women's doubles, Jin Lili felt like she wouldn't want to go back to Korea.
Even Koreans who lose a game will be sent knives, let alone an immigrant like me.
The Korean women's and men's singles teams suffered consecutive defeats. Although there will be mixed team matches later, I feel there is no need to look forward to it.
Because of the mixed group draw, the South Korean team and the Russian team were drawn into the same quarter, and there was no possibility of them advancing at all.
Jin Lili thought that Han Taiyang would definitely blame her harshly and ask her why she spent so much effort on her, but in the end she couldn't even make it to the quarterfinals.
But unexpectedly, when Han Taiyang came over, he just patted Jin Lili's shoulder gently, and then handed Jin Lili a towel to wipe the sweat off her face.
This action touched Jin Lili for a moment.
It’s like a traveler who has been away from home for too long and has gained a little warmth in a foreign country.
Jin Lili wiped the sweat from her face vigorously, then glanced down at her sweat-soaked jersey. Unwillingly, she said to Han Taiyang, "I made a few mistakes in this match, but rest assured, I won't make the same mistake again next time. As long as the others can make fewer mistakes in the mixed team competition, don't worry about me. I will definitely win at least two points for South Korea. At the very least, I'll ensure South Korea wins another mixed team... medal."
Jin Lili didn't dare to guarantee that she would win the gold medal, she just said that she could get a medal.
But Han Taiyang didn't seem to care about this. There was no relief on his face in response to Jin Lili's assurance. Instead, he looked at the young female athlete in front of him as if she were a fool and sighed.
Jin Lili felt a little dizzy and didn't understand what Han Taiyang meant.
Seeing her still expressionless, Han Taiyang could only make his words clearer: "The truth is, the public doesn't understand what it means to win a gold medal or not. While winning a gold medal is important, now that you've failed and there's no way to reverse the outcome, you have to find a way to salvage your image."
He stood up and spoke slowly and gently, in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
"All you need to do is cry in front of the media and recount your hardships and grievances. Tell the world how you were treated unfairly in China, how you were forced to leave the national team to make way for a new, essential starter. How you were inexplicably sent back to the provincial team for some attitude issue, in order to avoid taking 'that person's' spot and allow the Chinese team to legitimately give her a spot in the three major tournaments—wouldn't that be all that matters?"
Jin Lili was stunned. She looked at Han Taiyang, trying to judge word by word whether what Han Taiyang said was something she could understand.
"But, but..." Jin Lili was a little flustered. She did feel wronged for being sent back to the provincial team... She also felt that she was no worse than Zhu Qi.
This is not the same reason as what Han Taiyang said.
Moreover, everyone in the team, including coaches and players, knew that Zhu Qi had brought a badge into the team and moved directly into the seventh floor.
At that time, everyone knew that Zhu Qi would be the absolute main force in the national team, and there was no need for him to snatch the singles position from others.
...If that's the case, wouldn't that allow her to discredit the national team?
As long as someone from the national team speaks out, this lie will be easily exposed...
Han Taiyang continued to counsel, "If you put it this way, the Korean people will understand you. After all, you've been treated unfairly. They'll understand that you came to the Korean national team, a team that values equality, inclusion, and treating you like family, in pursuit of your dreams. It's simply because you were once ignored in China that you haven't been able to gain more competition experience. But that's okay. The Korean national team will teach you everything they know, and you'll definitely achieve better results next time. Look—last time with the Chinese team, you didn't even win the bronze medal in women's doubles. But after arriving in Korea, you and An Ji-hye, who you've only known for four years, won the silver medal in women's doubles, putting you just one step away from gold."
“…”Jin Lili.
Seeing Jin Lili's expression of disbelief, Han Taiyang could only add one final, meaningful sentence: "Lili, I trust you deeply. I also believe that you really want to prove yourself and achieve good results. But look, you've lost to a former teammate, and before that, you couldn't beat Zhu Qi. It was because of your outstanding performance in the Moscow cycle that I went to great lengths to secure a World Games spot for you. So what about the next four years? What about the next World Games in Riyadh? If you don't show some 'sincerity,' how can I fight for you, a former Chinese athlete?"
Jin Lili's blood was flowing backwards, as if something was blocking her throat, and she couldn't make a sound.
She wants to refuse now...is it still possible?
It took a lot of effort to successfully try out for the South Korean team, it took a lot of effort to gain a foothold in the South Korean team, it took a lot of effort to rank in the top 20, and it took a lot of effort to get on the World Games roster... Do I have to start all over again?
She is 24 years old this year, and will be 28 years old by the next Riyadh Olympics.
She already has problems with her wrists, knees and waist, and by that time there will be more problems in her body, so it is possible that this will be her last World Games.
If she left Korea during this period to find another place for trial training and start all over again... she really, really couldn't wait.
Think of this.
Jin Lili started to feel jealous again.
Very jealous of Zhu Qi.
Why hasn't she suffered any serious injuries?
Can she maintain this golden period forever, and even the illness stay away from her?
A demon held a sickle to her neck, and iron chains restrained every bone in her body.
Even if you want to break free, you will be locked tightly by the chains and can only walk according to the other party's wishes.
Perhaps this is the price of signing a contract with the devil in the first place...
/
Zhu Qi didn't know what the South Korean team was thinking, and he didn't bother to care.
Now that all the Korean women's and men's singles have been eliminated, there is only one event left, the mixed team event, which is not to be feared.
I heard that Jamie on the other side also successfully advanced to the quarterfinals, and the first two games were basically a perfect victory with a score of [4:0].
Zhu Qi also watched some of Jamie's post-match interviews.
Some American and Western media naturally would not specifically mark sensitive topics such as gender, but instead directed all content towards Jamie's feelings as she was participating in the World Games for the first time as a woman.
Jamie naturally talked a lot about herself as a "woman", how she brought glory to "women", and the praise she received after becoming a "woman". She said that she would continue to shine for a small number of "special groups".
Those athletes who were defeated by "her" did not understand the proportion of "testosterone" in the human body.
They don’t know what the difference is between their body functions and others’. They may really think that if they cut off their sausages and balls, they will be “the same” as themselves.
Xu Dong comforted Zhu Qi: "Table tennis isn't a sport where you can win solely on physical strength. If you could win by simply training your muscles, or if you needed any skills, then table tennis players would have already discovered a bunch of people taking stimulants."
Although table tennis players also need to take urine tests.
It is almost impossible for table tennis players to take any stimulants.
Because playing table tennis requires very fine hand movements, if you take stimulants indiscriminately, you may lose control of your strength and hit the ball away.
After all, strength is not the most important thing in playing table tennis; the most important thing is the rotation of the ball.
Another reason why Jamie was able to achieve this result was that he was a male athlete himself and had a foundation in table tennis.
So playing in women's competitions will be even more powerful.
Zhu Qi knew that Xu Dong was trying to comfort herself. In terms of competition experience and adaptability, Jamie was not on the same level as her.
After all, before the game, we need to boost the confidence of athletes. We definitely cannot say things like “Well…it’s true that you are not as strong as Jamie” or “The ball she hit was really powerful”.
But before that, Maomao had told Zhu Qi some of the characteristics of Jamie's playing style based on the two games he and Jamie had practiced together, as well as the frame-by-frame analysis of the videotape.
Maomao said, "He likes to attack in the fourth shot. He leaves a loophole in the first shot, deliberately luring you to attack his forehand area. If you give him a chance, he will immediately pounce on his forehand or burst through."
According to Maomao's observation, Jamie is also a forehand player who likes to kill people with one shot in terms of physique.
Including this World Games, the coaching staff also recorded some of Jamie's performances in other competitions. Zhu Qi found that it was exactly as Maomao had said.
And Sister Xia also heard that Jamie had hired a recently retired former athlete from Japan since the year before last, who had been giving Jamie individual training on the US team.
Zhu Qi and Maomao observed Jamie's performance in other games and guessed that he was learning the loop ball system from the Japanese team.
In this respect, it is similar to the gears of fate in the previous life.
The technique of looping balls began to flourish.
Everyone is adapting to the trend...
/
The women's singles quarterfinals begin.
In the morning, Zhu Qi and Maomao were warming up in the training hall and did not go to watch the men's singles match.
After listening to Zuo Zuo and You You talk about the game situation, I heard that Da Xiong and Song Linzhou fought very tensely.
Especially Song Linzhou.
I met a straight-blade player from the French team.
Zuo Zuo said curiously, "I didn't expect that there are people practicing straight-blade tennis on the French team."
"In fact, some people still practice the straight-blade style. After all, it is flexible and can easily change the line to score points. It's just that everyone is moving towards the straight-blade horizontal hitting system." Zhu Qi stood next to the table.
She held a racket in her hand, and a white ball bounced up and down on her racket.
From time to time, he would flip the racket over and let the white ball bounce back and forth, up and down, left and right.
This is the simplest juggling exercise.
Zhu Qi would practice her technique like this when she had nothing else to do, but she also figured out a way to juggle the ball while talking to someone. She didn't look at the racket or the ball, relying solely on her feel and the sound of the ball flying up to determine where it would land, and then continue juggling...
Children like Zuo Zuo and You You were particularly envious of Zhu Qi's way of juggling the ball. They used to practice and learn from him, but later they found that their ears were not as good as Zhu Qi's, and the ball kept falling, so they gave up.
I heard that Song Linzhou and the French straight-blade player fought for seven games, and he narrowly won the last game by two points.
After the game, both of them were so tired that they couldn't move for a long time.
It is said that the French straight-blade player was in the same club as Qin Xiaoba before. Fortunately, Qin Xiaoba gave Song Linzhou targeted training for a period of time. It is estimated that it would be difficult for him to win.
The men's singles match is over.
It's women's singles again in the afternoon.
Zhu Qi and Maomao did not go back either. They asked the coaches to bring their food over and ate in the rest area next to them while watching the video.
"It's strange," Ah Shui said, shaking his head as he ate. "I haven't seen anyone from the Japanese team since we played mixed doubles. See how active they were back in Tokyo? They couldn't wait to show off in front of us, like they were afraid we wouldn't know they were on their home turf in Japan, but this time, we couldn't even see them. They didn't even come to the gym to warm up during the day. Could it be that they knew they were going to meet you this afternoon and just gave up on Hara Xiang?"
"Probably not. They may be working hard secretly in some unknown corner." Zhu Qi felt that this was not the style of the Japanese team.
Ah Shui took a bite of dry bread, dipped it in the broth, and chewed it. "I saw those Japanese media say that Yuan Xiang is the 'three-defeat witch,' but their calculations are actually inaccurate. They only counted the results of the world competitions, but we also played a few mixed team, women's doubles, and mixed doubles matches in between! If all those events are counted, Yuan Xiang has lost to you twenty-three times! Well, if she loses again this afternoon, she will really be 'Twenty-four Filial Piety'."
The cat chuckled, feeling that Ah Shui was a bit mean but at the same time, he felt that the description of Ah Shui was very appropriate.
When Zhu Qi first joined the national team, the coaches felt that Zhu Qi was the best at playing against the Japanese.
So when Zhu Qi met Yuan Xiang in the quarterfinals this time, no one thought that Zhu Qi would lose.
Even Zhu Qi thought so at the time, and started to skip over Yuan Xiang to study Jamie, who he might meet in the semi-finals.
But after this game, it also gave Zhu Qi a wake-up call.
That is, you must never be negligent or contemptuous of your opponent at any time.
3:00 PM Russian time.
At the Moscow World Games, the women's singles table tennis competition for the quarter-finals officially began.
Players from both teams enter the field——
【Author’s words】
This chapter has 8,000 words, but I haven't reached 10,000 yet. If I can finish a chapter by 18:00, I'll post it. If I can't write so many words, I'll post a big chapter tomorrow. It'd be best if I could end the battle in one chapter, otherwise it would be uncomfortable for you to watch, hahaha
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