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friends who follow the table tennis world know that in recent years, a very young and promising star has emerged in the national table tennis team. although he was born in 2005 and is only 19 years old now, he has already defeated the five main players in the team, xu xin, fan zhendong, wang chuqin, liang jingkun, and lin gaoyuan. not long ago, he defeated zhang benzhihe, lin yunru, wang chuqin, and qiu dang in the wtt macau championships to win the men's singles championship. he has won many domestic and international competitions before, and his world ranking has risen to 7th. he is the young player lin shidong who has become famous recently.

it is no exaggeration to say that there is no athlete among the new generation of players in both the men's and women's national table tennis teams who can rival lin shidong. as his playing style is very similar to fan zhendong's, he is also very likely to become the former's "successor" - so why has lin shidong emerged as a dark horse? what are his current merits? are there any shortcomings? let's analyze it in depth.

first of all, the extremely high quality of single boards is the key advantage for lin shidong’s rapid growth.

as we all know, with the development of table tennis technology and the promotion of ittf equipment reform, the impact of delicate techniques such as the first three boards on winning or losing has been greatly reduced, and the quality confrontation of single boards has become the key factor in determining the outcome of the game. looking at lin shidong's growth in recent years, we can see that his attainments in this regard have reached an "unreasonable" level. he can exert force in almost every position, even the most difficult backhand long-range counter-pull.

it is precisely because of the above advantages that lin shidong is very confident when facing any famous player. on the one hand, he has extremely strong forehand ability, and on the other hand, the quality of his backhand returns has reached the pinnacle of table tennis. his speed near the table is beyond the imagination of many people, and his counter-pull power in the middle and long distances is full. once the board is successfully started, he is almost half a beat ahead of the opponent. sometimes he even gives people a feeling of "dimensionality reduction attack", which is really amazing.

secondly, stable performance is an important guarantee for lin shidong to lead the new stars in the team.

in fact, before lin shidong, many young players of the national table tennis team had tried to gain a foothold in the team. for example, xue fei (born in 1999) qualified for the men's team of the asian games in 2018 when he was also 19 years old; xu yingbin (born in 2001) had already defeated the six main players of the men's team, more than lin shidong; xiang peng (born in 2003) was also regarded as someone who could keep pace with zhang benzhihe and competed in major youth competitions.

however, compared with lin shidong, the three players mentioned above are in good and bad form, and they start to fall behind as soon as they are valued by the coaching staff. although lin shidong has also suffered some defeats in foreign wars, his stability is much better. whenever he participates in a competition, he rarely loses unexpectedly. when playing against famous players, he either wins or loses without losing face. this is also the guarantee for his steady progress towards the main position.

but it must be pointed out that lin shidong currently has two issues that need attention.

the first problem is that although lin shidong is good at attacking, his defense has a natural loophole. because he is not very tall, he has a small area to protect the table, which makes him easy to be pinned down by his opponents. although offense is the best defense, we must admit that athletes cannot be in the best condition all the time. if his offense is not good, can he gain an advantage in defense? this is something lin shidong cannot avoid.

before the start of the wtt macau championship, lin shidong won three consecutive titles in the wtt almaty regular season, but almost lost to the 18-year-old korean teenager wu juncheng in the men's singles final. the problem exposed at that time was that lin shidong's offensive state was not good. as a result, he was almost collapsed by wu juncheng's routine of defending first and then counterattacking. he was extremely disadvantaged in protecting the table, so he still had to strengthen his means of winning in passive situations.

as for the second question, lin shidong's playing style requires the quality of the single board to be almost extreme. if it declines, he may not be able to pose a threat to his opponents. however, in this case, lin shidong's body will be more stressed than others and he will be more prone to injuries. now he can naturally release it while he is young, but as he gets older, can he guarantee that he can always play at such a high quality? i believe no one dares to guarantee it.

a similar situation has occurred not only with fan zhendong, but also with another senior player of the national table tennis team, zhang jike. in his early years, zhang jike relied on his superb physical fitness to ensure extremely high quality of single boards to win games, but later he suffered frequent injuries and his results began to fluctuate. therefore, lin shidong not only has to focus on strengthening defense, but also has to learn to relax and work hard in offense in order to make steady progress.

it is undeniable that lin shidong is currently in a stage of rapid growth, but the more so, the easier it is to ignore some hidden dangers. so what do you think about this?