Will a Spare Table Tennis Racket Turn a Player from Victory to Defeat? Was It the Main Reason for Wang Chuqin's Elimination?
Earlier, Wang Chuqin, one of the men's singles favorites at the Paris Olympics, had his table tennis racket destroyed by a reporter. He entered the match with a spare racket and lost immediately, causing heated discussions. How much impact does the use of backup racket have on players' performance, and will it be the main reason for victory or defeat?
After Wang Chuqin teamed up with Sun Yingsha and narrowly defeated North Korea to win the mixed doubles championship, many reporters rushed to take photos. One of them actually stepped on the racket he kept in his suitcase, which was really rare.
The next day, he played in the round of 32 of the men's singles with a spare racket and was defeated by Swedish Truls Moregardh. He became the Chinese player to be eliminated soonest in the history of this event in the Olympic Games. He was also the player ranked world no. 1 to lose soonest.
Retired Japanese star Jun Mizutani immediately predicted on social media that he "...has a 10000% chance of not winning." and described using backup rackets as "...like the ramen soup you have spent a lot of time preparing, but now you have to do it again.”
Every player participating in the game, including amateurs and even primary school students, should have a spare racket. Furthermore, the spare racket should be identical to the original one, including all the items.
One of the major features of table tennis is that it is the most dexterous and delicate ball game in the world. The control of ball return requires the subtle touch of nerve endings on the palm and fingers. The higher the skill, the more obvious it becomes.
If there is a change before the match, the small touch you are usually used to will suddenly change drastically, and the control will naturally be greatly out of proportion. This is especially true when serving and receiving. For this reason, the setup of the two rackets must be exactly the same to minimize the impact of change.
(Image source: Pongfinity)
Is the feeling of using spare racket different from the original racket? Yes.
Will the bouncing and weight differences of the spare racket affect the player's performance? Yeah, it will.
Will the impact on players' performance be as big as winning or losing? Afraid no.
A normally set up and properly prepared spare racket should be inspected and maintained regularly to see if the rubbers have aged and need to be replaced, just like fire-fighting equipment. You have to take it out and use it every once in a while to make sure it feels right, so the difference should not be too big. Many professional players like to put on brand-new rubbers before the game, so that it has strong bouncing and an exquisite feeling. As for Wang Chuqin's situation, it would not be hard to get used to it after one day of practice.
Under what circumstances will the spare racket becomes the main factor affecting the outcome? For example, if a match reaches ten ties in the final game and the spare racket is suddenly used, it would be bad. Even if you have one or two minutes of practice time, it is easy to get not used to it, causing you to return a higher ball when receiving which you do not usually, etc. The subtle differences in feeling between the main and backup rackets are easily revealed in this case.
Of course, if the spare racket is not properly maintained, for example, it has been left in a drawer for many years without seeing the light of day, and its functions have deteriorated, then it is another case. There may be a big difference, but this should only be done by non-professional players.
As to that match Wang Chuqin losing to Moregardh, as he said in an interview later, it was because he was exhausted from a seven-game mixed doubles battle with North Korea the day before. A tense battle consumes a lot of physical and mental energy. If you have to fight again with less than 24 hours of rest, it is easy to find it difficult to maintain concentration. Fortunately, Wang Chuqin also had sportsmanship. He confessed that it was not because of the racket.
Before the next game, will you prepare well your spare table tennis racket?