Some updates about Zhang Jike 2022
Some updates about Zhang Jike 2022.
On the same day, 10 years ago, Zhang Jike won his Olympic Singles Gold at Olympics London2012 to complete his Grand Slam.
Today, Zhang Jike is retired. He is too old to compete on the competition level.
These are some of his best rallies (filmed by Stiga China).
Zhang Jike supported the Olympics
I think everyone knows a lot about Zhang Jike. He is on the Chinese men’s table tennis team. He is a world champion, an Olympic champion, and the seventh player in table tennis history to win a Grand Slam. Netizens called the dribbling style a “violent aesthetic” because it gives the impression of strength.
As a world champion, Zhang Jike still follows sports events around the world. He recently parachuted into the Douyin live broadcast room of Jinshan Office, which is the official collaborative office provider for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. His words of support for the Beijing Winter Olympics became popular.
Zhang Jike is absent since 2018
The team competition at the 2018 National Table Tennis Championships is over, and the individual competition has begun. Many former national team players are still playing in this game, but we didn’t see any famous national table tennis players who hadn’t yet retired.
Zhang Jike is one of the Chinese Men’s Table Tennis Team’s four Grand Slam players.
At this year’s National Championships, many of the best players from the National Table Tennis Men’s Team, including four world champions (Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, and Zhang Jike), dropped out of the singles competition. Ma Long and Xu Xin, on the other hand, still took part in the team competition. Zhang Jike, on the other hand, retired like Fan Zhendong and didn’t take part in a single event.
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Zhang Jike is not in a good place right now, but he is “destined to have points” in the championship, so it is a little sad that he is not playing this time.
Zhang Jike equipment
Zhang Jike equipment is sponsored by Butterfly, like Fan Zhendong.
His blade is the Butterfly Viscaria (Flared handle).
Will Zhang Jike come back?
No, he won’t come back.
Zhang Jike has been well-known for a long time. He has won the Olympics, the World Championships, and the World Cup singles titles. However, old fans shouldn’t forget how the Grand Slam player fought back when things didn’t go his way.
Zhang Jike was already on the national team when he was sent back to Shandong in 2004 for various reasons. This was a low point in his life. At that time, he was very sad, and his whole body seemed to have lost its spirit.
You could say that the time that Zhang Jike lived in has moved away from us.
The problem of injury
The Table Tennis style by the PRC with extreme power and torque shortened their top national team players considerably. You could see the severe knee injuries by Ma Long and know that even the very best cannot endure long period of extreme punishments to their bodies. The fact that Ma Lin completely wore out a brand new table tennis shoes in a single training session on the National Team tells you just how demanding the sport really is.
Therefore, Zhang Zike simply could not keep up and the change of the ball by the ITTF made it completely unsuitable to his tactics. This is why the European players with a much different style, are less physical and they can last their careers much longer.
At this rate, Ma Long would retire very soon and Xu Xin would not be far behind as well in the future. The team now belongs to Fan Zhendong to lead and I am sure the other top players already in the prime with plenty of experience, such as Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan and others will step right up and taking their spots. Just like Ding Ning retiring before 30 and went back to school.
But there is no athlete in the world who can beat time and age. Not even Waldner, who is known as the “evergreen tree” of table tennis. We might not only miss Zhang Jike at the National Championships this time next year, but we might also hear that he has retired.
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