Fan Zhendong and Wang Manyu Win Second Leg of China Olympic Scrimmage
Fan Zhendong recovered from a 3-1 in games and 8-4 deficit against Xu Xin to win the men’s singles finals and Wang Manyu handed Chen Meng her first major loss since the pandemic to win the women’s singles finals at the second leg of the Chinese Olympic Scrimmages.
It is an encouraging sign for Fan, who was upset by dark horse champion Zhou Qihao in the finals of the first leg of the China Olympic Scrimmages. Fan will represent China in the men’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympic alongside Ma Long. Ma was upset by Xu Chenhao in the quarter-finals, denying fans the chance to see a preview of the likely Ma vs Fan finals at the Tokyo Olympics. After suffering a series of bad losses earlier this year, Xu Xin finally put together a strong tournament performance as he rounds into form to represent China in the team event at the Olympics.
After his win, Fan noted that when losing, the most important thing to think about was not tactical adjustments per se, but to remind himself not to give up. After establishing a no-quit mentality was he able to think of tactical and technical adjustments to spark the comeback.
Wang Manyu was selected as a reserve for the Chinese Olympic team, but she defeated both of China’s women’s singles representatives at the Olympics, Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha, and clearly outperformed Liu Shiwen, who will be providing a veteran presence in the women’s team event.
Wang finally put a dent on Chen’s dominant run over the past year or so. Chen was up to this point undefeated in 2021 in the first leg of the Chinese Olympic Scrimmage and won the post-pandemic World Tour Finals, World Cup, and All China National Championships in 2020. This tournament result is not necessarily a cause for alarm for Chen and Sun, as the purpose of the scrimmages is precisely for them to work out the kinks in their game.
After her win, Wang remarked that she is very happy with the results and actually did not go into the tournament with any championship expectations or thoughts and was mainly focused on playing well in preparation for the Olympics.
Final Results
Men’s Singles
Finals
Fan Zhendong defeats Xu Xin 4-3 (5, -10, -8, -9, 9, 7, 8)
Semi-Finals
Fan Zhendong defeats Wang Chuqin 4-2 (-10, 10, 6, -6, 9, 10)
Xu Xin defeats Xu Chenhao 4-1 (6, 8, 9, -9, 7)
Quarter-Finals
Fan Zhendong defeats Lin Gaoyuan 4-1(3, -7, 8, 9, 10)
Wang Chuqin defeats Zhou Qihao 4-2 (6, -12, 10, -9, 4, 4)
Xu Xin defeats Liang Jingkun 4-0 (9, 6, 5, 10)
Xu Chenhao defeats Ma Long 4-2 (5, 9, 10, -6, -5, 8)
Women’s Singles
Finals
Wang Manyu defeats Chen Meng 4-2 (-7, 8, 11, 12, -4 8)
Semi-Finals
Wang Manyu defeats Sun Yingsha 4-1 (7, 4, 12, -11, 5)
Chen Meng defeats He Zhuojia 4-1 (-9, 10, 4, 3, 5)
Quarter-Finals
Wang Manyu defeats Chen Xintong 4-1 (8, -7, 5, 7, 7)
Sun Yingsha defeats Gu Yuting 4-3 (5, -10, -8, 7, -5, 7, 5)
Chen Meng defeats Wang Yidi 4-2 (10, 9, 10, -11, -8, 6)
He Zhoujia defeats Liu Shiwen 4-0 (4, 14, 6, 8)
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