BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The all-champion Chinese squad of table tennis set out for Japan to take part in 2019 Yokohama Asian Cup held from April 5 to 7.
This Cup is the first table tennis tournament held in Japan this year. Considering Japan will also host the 2020 Olympic Games, Chinese delegation values this match seriously. It dispatched four players, all of whom are world champions, including Ma long, Fan Zhendong, Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng.
Among the two strongest male athletes, Ma Long was crowned men's singles title in Qatar Open as soon as he came back to the arena overcoming his injury. Fan has remained as the top ranked player for 12 months. Female athlete Chen Meng was enthroned the queen as she championed three times in the singles in a row (Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Australian Open, the 2018 Grand Finals and the 2019 Hungarian Open). Fan Zhendong and Zhu Yuling are the defending champions of the Asian Cup.
In terms of titles, Chen Meng is not on par with her teammate Zhu Yuling. Though the latter will miss the women's singles event in World Championships, she has claimed singles title in World Cup and Asian Cup, which is the bottleneck for the former to resolve. The Asian Cup gold medal will mean a lot to Chen Meng and her prospects for the World Championships, even the Tokyo Olympics.
