Xinhua News Agency, Budapest, April 23 (reporter Su Bin Zhang Zhang) defending the champion and ranking first in the world, any athlete who holds these titles will become the focus of an event. For Ding Ning, it has been 12 years since she first stood on the World Table Tennis Championships. She hopes that this World Table Tennis Championships will become a brand new beginning.
In the first round of women’s singles in the World Table Tennis Championships on the 23rd, Ding Ning defeated Hermi, an Egyptian player, in four straight rounds, and the way to start the defending journey was extremely easy.
In 2007, the World Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb was the first World Table Tennis Championships attended by Ding Ning. At that time, at the age of 16, she and Lei Zhenhua joined the mixed match, and the two stopped at the top 16.
In the past 12 years, Ding Ning has grown into the singles champion of the three World Table Tennis Championships, the “Grand Slam” winner and the national championship for many years, which is absolutely leading player. In Suzhou in 2015, people remembered that Ding Ning won the singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships for the second time. In the final, the scene of her overcoming the influence of injuries on reaching the top podium was even more impressive to many people.
Ding Ning said frankly that at the beginning, he would feel a kind of pressure impacted by his opponent. “He was the last champion. (this impact) three successive championships is good, and he still feels quite stressful.”
But after arriving in Budapest, Ding Ning’s mind became more calm. “Recall that 12 years have passed, and it is a very difficult thing to be in the top ranks for such a long time.” She said, “when I really stand on the court, I hope this competition is a new beginning, not in what kind of identity I had before, but really enjoy my own competition process, every competition is precious.”
On February this year, Guozhen announced the new coaching team list, and Guo Yan became the supervisor coach of Ding Ning. Guo Yan once joined hands with Ding Ning in the World competition in the era of athletes. The relationship was upgraded from teammates to Masters. This world table tennis tournament was the first world competition that the two participated in.
“The current opponent is not very strong, and the cruelty of the competition has not been fully demonstrated. At present, I am still the main one, and the two of us will make more preparations according to the competition and opponents.” Ding Ning said.