There are no top four in Frankfurt, and the national table tennis team must not let the "tuition fees" be paid in vain

In the early morning of November 8th, Beijing time, as Chinese player Chen Yi lost to the host player Sabine Winter in the women's singles quarter-finals, no one from the national table tennis team advanced to the semi-finals of the WTT Frankfurt Championship. For a time, topics such as #国特杯Frankfurt Championship were wiped out# rushed to the hot search, and some people asked: What happened to the national table tennis team?

Failure is never an isolated moment. The women's singles and men's singles of national table tennis each have their own challenges.

In the women's singles arena, a diverse competitive landscape is becoming the norm.

In the Frankfurt Championship, the Chinese women's table tennis team had a bleak record in the absence of Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu. In the quarter-finals, Kuaiman narrowly lost to Japanese team Hina Hayata, Chen Xingtong lost to Japanese team Miwa Harimoto, and Chen Yi was suppressed by German player Winter's special play style.

Looking at the first five championships of the 2026 season, the national table tennis women's singles only won one championship in Montpellier, with Sun Yingsha winning the championships. The champions of the remaining events were all players from foreign associations: the Doha championship was won by Zhu Yuling of the Macau team of China, while Miwa Zhangmoto won three consecutive championships in Chongqing, Yokohama and Macau. The Japanese women's team is no longer a "one-person standout". Instead, Miwa Harimoto, Hina Hayata, Satsuki Oto and others have blossomed. Their offensive and defensive systems and ability to withstand pressure in competitions have continued to improve, making them extremely competitive. European players also rely on special playing styles to constantly create threats, bringing new challenges to national table tennis players.

Some analysts believe that although the national table tennis women's team still has the main players such as Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, the tactical pertinence and courage of the external players are also improving, and the diversified competition pattern is accelerating.

The plight of the national table tennis men's singles lasted throughout the season. In the first five championships this year, the men's singles championship was won by Chinese Taipei player Lin Yunru, French player Félix Le Brun, Japanese player Harimoto Tomokazu, Swedish player Moregard, and South Korean player Zhang Yuzhen. The national table tennis men's singles "nothing" was harvested and failed to win a championship.

Young players still have shortcomings in the stability of key points and tactical adaptability. The injuries to the main players, the pressure of the transition between new and old players, combined with multiple factors such as the external men's singles technical system and the continuous improvement of fighting ability, have jointly led to the unsatisfactory performance of the National Table Tennis Men's Singles Championship this season.

Of course, competitive sports have cycles, and there are pains when the old and the new are replaced. Failure in the game does not mean that the overall strength of the national table tennis team has been overtaken, but this does not mean that the loss can be attributed to chance. The consecutive defeats in Frankfurt have sounded the alarm for the national table tennis team: opponents are evolving, and the pursuit of outside players has moved from "single-point upset" to systematic catch-up; it has its own shortcomings, echelon support when the core main players are absent, the thickness of the connection of the men's line, the ability to control the field in key games, and the adaptability of the women's line members to special play styles all need to be improved urgently.

There are no Chinese players among the top four in Frankfurt, which is not scary in itself. What needs to be vigilant is that the next time the main force returns and the gold medal is won, the various problems exposed before still need to be solved. A truly strong team does not never lose, but turns every loss into a stepping stone on the way forward. For the national table tennis team, facing up to the new changes in the world table tennis world and making up for the shortcomings in the follow-up schedule is the most important lesson to learn after the defeat.