Liang Jingkun's Collapse, China's Battle With Romania: Technique and Equipment
In the London Worlds men’s team round of 16, China beat Romania 3-1. By the score, not a narrow escape, but a scare it was. Behind this battle there is much to ponder, including technique and equipment. As it happens, all four matches were inner-blade versus outer-blade duels.
Liang Jingkun 0-3 Eduard Ionescu
Liang Jingkun used the W968 before; now it is the LOKI Liang Jingkun inner custom, glued with Hurricane on both sides. Eduard Ionescu’s blade is an outer-green-aramid-carbon structure, said to launch this year, glued with custom K3 on both sides. In this match, Liang Jingkun averaged 6 points a game — only “collapse” describes it. The overall impression: a beat slower than the opponent, from initiation to linking.
There should be an injury factor here too. Though the coaching staff likely thought it would not affect the result too much, or they would not have entrusted him with a big role. Arranging this Worlds lineup, with the last two spots both decided by in-team selection, means they believe Liang Jingkun can hold up. Even though over the past half year, Dapang has made us learn many dark-horse names. When on April 1 at the World Cup he lost 2-3 to Ovtcharov in the group stage and failed to advance, then waved to the crowd for a long time afterward — maybe we should have understood long ago: the hero is no longer his old self. Yet, as overseas players keep improving, we still told Dapang: how about you hold on a bit more? But this Worlds, losing in a row to Oh Junsung, Moregard, and today to Eduard Ionescu, ranked outside the top 40, shows the situation is far less rosy than we imagined.
Even so, most of us still do not admit this. Commentating this match, Zhou Yu mentioned: once it enters an even rally, that is Liang Jingkun’s advantage; past five shots, Liang Jingkun has a chance. Even though Zhou Yu is a former national player I have always liked, I have to rebut: is it really so? No, on the contrary, he cannot out-rally Ionescu, and cannot out-counter-loop him either. Your dual Hurricane lifts too slowly; the opponent is a notch faster, sweeping you like autumn leaves. You are still lifting behind, while the opponent is already pressing forward and ripping. Often, before even five shots, he lets you get on the offensive, then counter-rips, counter-drives, counter-loops, settling it fast. All along, the 968-plus-dual-Hurricane combination has been seen as the representative of extreme control, strong spin, high-explosive acceleration and absolute bottom power. But to achieve these, besides fully boosting the Hurricane, you must have waist-and-leg unity, always firing. Otherwise it is just slow, just not ball-releasing enough. Ma Long can do it, Wang Chuqin can too — can an injured Liang Jingkun still? And we have to keep asking: when a setup only has high ball quality if you fire hard yourself, does it really suit that many players?
When Coach Liu Guozheng says spin is Liang Jingkun’s advantage, that he should restrain the opponent with spin and the opponent will eventually err — that feels just like me playing the 1800-1900 kids at the table tennis school. My speed cannot keep up with them, my quick-exchange gets beaten, and I cannot out-topspin-rally them at all. I can only win by tricking around, with spin variation. This shows: in attack, we are inferior to the opponent! Do you not feel this way watching matches now? The overseas youngsters initiate faster than ours, attack more actively and fiercely. When overseas players press at close-mid table, ripping in front, we still fantasize that rallying is our advantage. No — now even backing off to rally may not beat them.
Wang Chuqin 3-0 Iulian Chirita
Wang Chuqin: inner Q968. Chirita: outer Super Viscaria. Against an opponent whose world ranking peaked at 60, Wang Chuqin rarely plays this fiercely, passionately, even with some indignation. No choice — his teammate played too weakly. That is a fact. Chirita had a glimmer only in the second game. But that was just Wang Chuqin briefly demanding too much of himself, too obsessed with delicacy in control and quality in attack. The opponent’s middle and forehand defense was indeed clearly weak.
Lin Shidong 3-0 Ovidiu Ionescu
Lin Shidong: outer Butterfly ALC custom. Ovidiu Ionescu: W968. A long-time 968 supporter, though many European big men really cannot get used to Hurricane, so he likes to glue T05 Hard on both sides. This time it looked like he switched to Z03 on both sides. His ball quality has always been fierce. But this match, Lin Shidong seemed to find himself, as if tossing the rumored remold out the window, his backhand again lightning. The important thing: he had passion, no longer timid. Tactics matter, but sometimes the temperament of a match matters more.
Wang Chuqin 3-1 Eduard Ionescu
Wang Chuqin: inner Q968. Eduard Ionescu: outer green-aramid carbon. The general understanding is that those playing dual Hurricane should especially emphasize spin. But clearly this match was not played that way. Short touch and long chop, the rhythm variation of pushing to the middle, and sweeping first-three-ball ripping — that is the portrait of Wang Chuqin this match. I sometimes think: are overseas players now very familiar with our spin-adding style? So often they deliberately let us get on the offensive and lift, then counter-attack. With today’s ball, speed should be king, and producing spin variation is much harder than before. On gear, this outer green-aramid carbon, compared with outer blue-aramid carbon, has another trait. We said green-aramid carbon’s rebound is strong — simply put, tougher and springier than blue-aramid carbon, which helps in backing-off defense and counterattack. Springier, initiating at mid-far table is more ball-releasing and effortless. Watching Wen Ruibo, Ionescu and Alexis’s mid-far-table ability, we glimpse green-aramid carbon’s bright spots.