20 17 In the men's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships in Dü sseldorf, Malone looked at Fan Zhendong across the table, and Fan Zhendong looked at Malone across the table, as if looking at himself.
Before the World Table Tennis Championships, or more accurately, before the Suzhou World Table Tennis Championships two years ago, Malone, like Fan Zhendong today, played the role of "impactor". Malone has repeatedly stressed that ZhangJike, who is the same age, is his idol and goal, because at the level of the men's singles champion in the World Table Tennis Championships, ZhangJike's honor is far more brilliant than him. From his first participation in the men's singles competition in the World Table Tennis Championships in 2007 to his first summit in 20 15, Malone failed four times, including three consecutive defeats to Wang Hao. How similar are these experiences to Fan Zhendong today? ...
In Fan Zhendong's eyes, Malone is a teammate who still works as hard as himself after winning the Grand Slam and never misses any details. Little known is that Malone, who has been good at attacking and spinning, has been greatly impacted by ITTF's use of new material balls this year. He lost the Asian Championship, and he was in a bad state during closed training. Many people thought that the "Malone era" had ended ahead of schedule, but Fan Zhendong saw a Malone who never gave up and got the last bite after falling behind in the tiebreaker. His opponent is as eager to win as he has never won St. Brad.
In the competition, Malone and Fan Zhendong also seemed to be themselves in the mirror. In the first game, Fan Zhendong won by 1 1 7, but in the next three games, Malone, who had more experience and strength, continued to win three games in a row, only one game away from successfully defending his title. At the crucial moment, "Xiao Pang" won two more games, 1 1 5, 1 1 7, and stubbornly tied the total score to 3-3. In the deciding game, Fan Zhendong once led 2-0, but Malone took the lead 6-3, "Xiao Pang" hit 6-6, 7-7 and 9-7, Malone tied the score to 9-9 again, and Malone 10-9 won the "championship points". After that, a large number of photographers flocked to Malone's side, but Fan Zhendong, who was "big-hearted", was not affected at all and rewrote the score to 65,433. Unfortunately, Fan Zhendong didn't grasp the last two goals. 10 lost to 12 and lost the game 3-4, which was the weakest score in the World Table Tennis Championships.
Walking off the court, Fan Zhendong, whose eyes were firm during the game, cried. Many people forget that Fan Zhendong, who was born in 1997 and just turned 20 this year, is actually a child. He is only a short distance from the coveted championship trophy.
Even so, Fan Zhendong spoke highly of Malone, thinking that after winning the Grand Slam, Malone's competitive state and mentality have been greatly improved, and he needs to learn from him.
Malone successfully defended his title after the World Table Tennis Championships, which proved "the return of the king". He also bluntly said that this was a classic game in the history of the World Table Tennis Championships, and both he and Xiao Pang played the highest level.
After the game, Malone and Fan Zhendong quickly changed from "rivals" to "teammates" and "brothers". Together, * * * raised a five-star red flag, which proved that the glory of table tennis in China did not go out in Dü sseldorf.
In the shadow of the five-star red flag, two people standing side by side are the present and future of China table tennis team.