Is the handicap history of Chinese table tennis still available now?

In the history of the development of national table tennis, conceding incidents have been common. Since the 1960s, incidents of conceding began to occur. Especially from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, the frequency of conceding for the Chinese team reached peak. In an interview with the media, Xu Shaofa, the former head coach of the Chinese table tennis team, believed that handicap was a special move of the Chinese table tennis team in a special period. Looking back at the reasons for handing over, they can be roughly divided into two categories. One is subject to the special environment at the time, and the other is to ensure the winning rate in foreign games.

The first type of handicap was mainly for political reasons at the time. For example, it was revealed that Chinese player Zhang Li gave up to North Korean player Park Young-soon at the World Table Tennis Championships. In addition to giving up to foreign players, the Chinese team has also given up the ball in internal derbies. For example, at the 1981 World Table Tennis Championships in Yugoslavia, Cai Zhenhua won the men's team, men's doubles and mixed doubles championships in one fell swoop. However, in the men's singles competition, Cai Zhenhua was asked to give up to Guo Yuehua. The reason was that as a meritorious player, it would be difficult for Guo Yuehua to win again in the future. He had the opportunity to win the singles championship, but in the end Cai Zhenhua obeyed the organization's order and finished second.

The second type of handicap mainly refers to the performance of the main players in the team in foreign games. In the 1987 World Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi, three players, He Zhili, Guan Jianhua and Dai Lili, reached the semi-finals of women's singles. . In the semi-finals, Dai Lili played against South Korean player Liang Yingzi, and Guan Jianhua played against He Zhili. In the end, the coaching staff believed that Guan Jianhua's chipping style was more advantageous in dealing with Liang Yingzi, and decided to let He Zhili pass to his teammates. However, He Zhili temporarily regretted it, which eventually triggered a "concession incident." In addition, the retirement of former Chinese main player Jiao Zhimin also has a lot to do with the handicap. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the women's singles semifinals were between Czechoslovakia's Hlahova and Chinese team Chen Jing, while the other women's singles semifinals were between Chinese players Jiao Zhimin and Li Huifen. The coaching staff believed that Jiao Zhimin had lost to Hlahova in international competitions, and the result of Chen Jing's defeat of Hlahova was unknown. Li Huifen had defeated Hlahova before, so they made Li up and Jiao down. decision. The experience of handing over the ball many times finally made this famous table tennis player retreat.

At present, it can be said that the two prerequisites for the existence of handicap no longer exist. On the one hand, today's sports are more pure and there is no handicap for political purposes. On the other hand, the strength of the Chinese table tennis team has The best in the world, there is no such thing as conceding the ball out of concern for the opponent. And as the sports environment becomes more and more open, fans will be even more disgusted by handicap behavior that goes against the Olympic spirit.