China's number 3 table tennis player suffered a crushing defeat at home.

Liang Jingkun suffered a shocking defeat in the round of 32 of the men's singles table tennis event at the 15th Chinese Games.

Liang Jingkun is currently China's number 3 tennis player - Photo: XH

It is important to note that, despite his recent decline in form, Liang Jingkun is still ranked 6th in the world , and is the 3rd strongest Chinese tennis player. In the past, he climbed to the 2nd position in the world.

But when he entered the National Sports Festival, Liang Jingkun immediately received a shock. He lost 1-4 to Yu Heyi (Vu Ha Nghi), an unknown player.

Immediately after Liang Jingkun's defeat, the Chinese table tennis community had to inquire to get information about Yu.

Born in 2000, Yu's table tennis achievements so far have been limited to his hometown of Zhengzhou.

Yu's highest world ranking was 19th in the world, in 2016 when he was just 16 years old. At that time, Yu was still a promising young player.

But constant injuries prevented this tennis player from developing his career. And by 2022, he accepted to retire from international sports, when he was ranked 547th in the world.

In the past few years, Yu mainly played in amateur and small domestic tournaments. At the National Sports Festival, no one paid attention to Yu, before he made a shock against Liang Jingkun.

But the Chinese media was not surprised. They calmly accepted Liang's defeat, a very common thing in domestic competitions, especially the National Sports Festival.

For a long time, the Chinese table tennis community has said that "winning the world championship is easier than winning the Chinese championship". This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this statement simply shows the impressive uniformity and depth of Chinese table tennis.

According to the Zhihu platform, there are dozens of players with a level "close to" Liang Jingkun, even the current world number 1 player - Wang Chuqin (Vuong So Kham) "hidden" in the Chinese table tennis village, and not present on the world rankings.

Only a handful of China’s top players have the opportunity to compete in major foreign tournaments, accumulate points, and become globally renowned. Hundreds of other mainland professionals are not so fortunate.

Not to mention some players with unique playing styles, although they cannot develop their careers to the international level, are the nemesis of many strong players.

Within the framework of a match, the "crouching tigers and hidden dragons" of Chinese table tennis are always ready to defeat top players. Liang Jingkun's recent defeat is an example.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tay-vot-bong-ban-so-3-trung-quoc-tham-bai-ngay-tai-san-nha-20251111234909851.htm