Despite China displaying an impressive medal count this Olympics, one event brought immense disappointment to the nation:Table Tennis. Once a sport that the country could joke about sending their worst athletes and winning, this year’s results have brought nothing but shame and grief to not only the citizens, but specifically the nation’s table tennis association president Liu Guoliang.
Mr Liu, a former Olympic champion himself has expressed his sorrows and repented his sins of being unable to bring glory to the nation after his athletes were unable to compete at their most optimal performance. Major losses were suffered in all events with most losing out on both a silver and bronze medal, whilst one on gold and bronze. However, two events were specifically emphasized due to the high prestige they held: the men and women’s singles events.
Ever since the Beijing 2008 Olympics, China has never been able to sweep the podium in the singles events. This has led to many netizens in China to raise the question: “Why? Our athletes have clearly dominated the sport and our lower ranked players have even sweeped other countries’ top players! How could we let other places such as Hong Kong even dream of a spot on the podium?”
Nonetheless, no questions were able to be answered this time and even more questions were raised in Tokyo. As only gold and silver medals were attained at the singles event, the bronze went to a German athlete in the male singles, and a Japanese athlete in the women’s. A major upset that the nation will never get over and let their athletes forget about.
We can only hope that our country will become stronger and completely dominate the sport, leaving no space for other athletes on the podium. After all, this sport is our pride and joy. The one thing that makes us truly Chinese.
Ping Pong.
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