Known as “Ping Pong Diplomacy 2.0”, China and the United States cooperated to form a men’s and women’s mixed doubles table tennis team, which finally reaped results.
On November 28, the World Table Tennis Championships continued. The mixed doubles semi-finals have been born, and the two pairs of national table tennis players have entered the semi-finals. Among them, the Sino-US combination Lin Gaoyuan/Zhang An has performed well and has locked a medal, at least Bronze medal, there is a chance to hit a higher medal.
This is the first time in 62 years that the American table tennis team will definitely win a World Table Tennis Championships medal. After the game, the American female player Zhang An squeezed the hand of the Chinese male player Lin Gaoyuan. She was very excited and expressed her gratitude.
After the game, the American female athlete Zhang An squeezed the hand of the Chinese male athlete Lin Gaoyuan, very excited.
Lin Gaoyuan/Zhang An’s opponent in this round is the French combination Le Besson/Yuan Jianan. Facing such an opponent, Lin Gaoyuan/Zhang An performed stably and won 11-9 in the first game. Although they lost 9-11 in the second game, they lost 11 afterwards. -7, 11-7 won 2 more rounds, the total score is 3-1 to advance. Since there is no bronze medal in the World Table Tennis Championships, the Sino-US combination has definitely won the bronze medal in the mixed doubles. This is also the first time since 1959 that the American team has won the podium.
The American female athlete Zhang An and the Chinese male athlete Lin Gaoyuan performed steadily.
Zhang An said after the game: “I am especially grateful to Lin Gaoyuan. He is a very good doubles player. I was very nervous in the second game, but everyone comforted me and bit one point.” Lin Gaoyuan said: “In the lead. She was indeed anxious to win the game. Under normal circumstances, she adjusted well later, dared to make a move, and played smoothly.
Zhang An continued: “I am very excited and very happy. It is a dream to win a medal in the World Table Tennis Championships. I am very excited. We will be ready for the next competition.” Lin Gaoyuan also said: “When I match, I want to be the first. So far, the match between China and the United States is worthy of the audience and fans on both sides.” Zhang An finally said: “I have learned a lot, and I hope more Americans will participate in table tennis.”
Another group of Chinese mixed doubles combination Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha eliminated Spain’s Alvaro Robles/Xiao Yaoqian 3-1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-8). The double semi-finals have been born. The national team Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha will face the Chinese Taipei duo Lin Yunru/Zheng Yijing in the semifinals. The Sino-US mixed team Gao Yuan/Zhang An will face the Japanese team’s Zhang Benzhi and Hayata Hina.
As for the other team, the Chinese female player Wang Manyu and the American male player Kanak lost on the 27th and missed the quarterfinals.
The Sino-US mixed team Gao Yuan/Zhang An won the medal for the first time in 62 years. In fact, as early as two years ago, in 2019, Zhang An, a Chinese girl of the US team, has created the history of American table tennis and reached the top 4 in the Women’s World Cup in Chengdu. Because the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships will be held in Houston, USA, the ITTF gave Zhang An a wild card. She was also very uplifting and made it to the knockout rounds from the qualifying rounds and finally finished fourth.
Zhang An was born in 1996 and is 22 years old. He is a Chinese American table tennis player. Zhang An was born in a small city near San Francisco, California. Both Zhang An’s parents are from Xi’an, and the character “安” in her Chinese name also contains the concern of her parents for her hometown. Zhang An’s mother used to be a table tennis player, and his father also liked table tennis very much. After they moved to the United States, playing table tennis became the most frequent sporting activity in the family.
Under the influence of his parents, Zhang An has been exposed to table tennis since he was 7 years old. When he was a child, Zhang An would go to Xi’an with his father every summer, and speaks Mandarin quite well. Zhang An’s most admired table tennis star is “National Table Tennis First Sister” Zhang Yining.
14-year-old Zhang An.
At the 2008 North American Junior Snooker Championships, Zhang An, who was only 9 years old, won the team championship and reached the semifinals in singles. It is precisely because of these outstanding performances that Zhang An was directly promoted by the coach of the US team without going through the trials and entered the 50th World Table Tennis Championships.
Since the United States is not a powerhouse in table tennis, Zhang An, who is very talented, has limited room to play. This time I was fortunate enough to compete with China’s super-strong table tennis players in the mixed doubles team and won medals, successfully creating a zero breakthrough for the United States in 62 years, and I believe it will also help promote American table tennis.
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