The Doha Star Challenge continues to unfold with upsets, as the top three seeded players have all been eliminated. The Chinese national table tennis second team has dealt a crushing blow to the Japanese mainstays.
The women's singles quarter-finals have been completed in the Doha Star Challenge. All eight spots were taken by players from China, Japan, and South Korea, which aligns with the current power structure in women's world table tennis, where these three countries are particularly prominent. Despite only sending their second team, China has shown significant strength, with all five participants advancing to the quarter-finals, despite facing the main players from Japan and South Korea. In contrast, Japan, which sent many of its main players, including almost its entire main lineup, suffered heavy losses, with only two out of seven players making it to the quarter-finals, while another spot was claimed by South Korea's Shin Yu-bin.
Japan sent its full main lineup to compete in this event. In the competition, the top three seeded players were all Japanese, namely the number one seed Hina Hayata, the number two seed Miyuu Kihara, and the number three seed Satsuki Todo. However, only Hina Hayata made it to the round of 16, while Miyuu Kihara and Satsuki Todo suffered defeats in the first round, with most of Japan's main players being eliminated by Chinese players.
In addition to the three seeded players mentioned earlier, Japan's main player Miu Hirano was quickly defeated 0:3 by Shih Xunyao yesterday. Today, Hina Hayata lost 2:3 to China's young player Chen Yi. Yesterday, Kuai Man also narrowly won 3:2 against Satsuki Todo. Apart from Miyuu Kihara being eliminated by Thailand's star player Paranan, the rest of Japan's absolute main players were overwhelmed by the second team players of the Chinese national table tennis team.
China has not even fielded its core main players yet, and the young players of the second team have already dealt a crushing defeat to Japan's main players. Therefore, the idea that Japan could pose a threat to China in this Olympic cycle is simply absurd. After all, even tigers can take naps; we cannot let occasional defeats make us think that the other side can become king or hegemon. Taking today's five matches of the Chinese national table tennis team as an example, four of them were won with relative ease.
He Zhuojia won 3:0 against Szocs, Kuai Man also won 3:0 against provincial team player Ye Yiyi, Shi Xunyao ended the match at lightning speed with a 3:0 score, easily "clocking out," and Qian Tianyi won 3:0 against Indian star Aakul. Only Chen Yi faced a tough battle when she met Hina Hayata, the top seed and world number five in this competition, but this is a normal situation.
In this competition, Hina Hayata has strong overall abilities. In the match, Chen Yi took the lead twice but was also equalized twice by her opponent. In the decisive game, the younger Chen Yi defeated Hina Hayata 11:7, with physical fitness becoming the key factor. It must be said that Chen Yi was well-prepared for this match, quickly entering the state and leaving room for error in subsequent competitions. This time, the top three seeds in the women's singles have all been eliminated, with frequent upsets.