After missing the Paris Olympic singles, Wang Manyu wants to realize his dream in Los Angeles, and needs to focus on guard against one person

Wang Manyu has turned his goal to the Los Angeles Olympics after missing a single in the Paris Olympics. She is called "Gemini" together with Sun Yingsha, but Sun Yingsha has participated in two Olympic singles, while Wang Manyu has not participated in Olympic singles so far, which is cruel to her. In the new cycle, Wang Manyu performed well, winning the women's singles championship in the Frankfurt Championship, the Fukuoka Finals and the Asian Cup, second only to Sun Yingsha among the Chinese women's table tennis team.

Many fans believe that when Wang Manyu wants to compete in the Los Angeles Olympic singles, his biggest competitor is Sun Yingsha, but in fact this is incorrect. Wang Manyu wants to participate in the Los Angeles Olympic singles, his biggest competitor is not Sun Yingsha, but someone else!

Why do you say that?

Judging from the current situation, although there are still three years left before the Los Angeles Olympics, Sun Yingsha has almost locked in a singles place in advance!

In the 2025 season, Sun Yingsha successfully reached the finals in all the competitions she participated in, and won the women's singles championships in the Singapore Grand Slam, Chongqing Championship, Macau World Cup, and Doha World Table Tennis Championships!

Especially in the World Cup and World Table Tennis Championships, this is enough to allow Sun Yingsha to qualify for singles in the Los Angeles Olympics in advance!

At present, Wang Manyu's biggest competitor is young player Kuaiman!

Why do you say that?

Because Sun Yingsha's core position is unshakable, what Wang Manyu needs to compete for is the "second singles" seat, which will form a direct conflict with Kuai Man rather than challenging Sun Yingsha.

Why is Kuaiman able to pose a threat to Wang Manyu?

1. Why did Kuai Man become Wang Manyu’s core competitor?

1. Technical suppression: The incompatibility of the play reveals the weaknesses of Wang Manyu's system

Kuaiman's near-Taiwan fast attack tactics (backhand quick tearing large angle + forehand quick pulling diagonal line) specifically defeats Wang Manyu's mid-range Taiwan defensive system. In the 2025 Singapore Grand Slam and the Macau World Cup, Kuaiman defeated Wang Manyu twice. The key strategy is to compress his position space and force Wang Manyu to retreat to the stage and fall into a passive defense.

2. Age and sustainability of playing style: the inevitability of the old and new iterations

Wang Manyu (b. 1999): He will be 29 years old during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. His way of playing with his back from Taiwan will be greatly damaged to his knees and waist, and his physical reserves are facing severe tests.

Kuaiman (birth in 2004): He was only 24 years old at the Olympics, and he was at the golden age. His near-Taiwan fast attack was in line with the technical trend of women's table tennis team "near-Taiwan is king" and his physical efficiency was higher.

3. Echelon construction: Kuaiman occupies strategic resources

At present, the national table tennis team is increasing its efforts to train young athletes. Wang Liqin has also repeatedly emphasized that young players should be trained as soon as possible!

2. Assessment of Wang Manyu's participation opportunities: less than 40%

In fact, Wang Manyu is not completely out of the way to compete with Los Angeles. First of all, Wang Manyu has his own advantages.

Foreign Battle Reliability: Wang Manyu won all the foreign battles in the Olympics and World Table Tennis Championships, and scored a record of 21 games in the mixed team World Cup, which is the "stabilizing needle" of the team competition.

Technical adjustment space: If you reduce your dependence on retreating and improve the efficiency of attacking the top three boards, you may still break through Kuaiman's suppression.

But Wang Manyu competes in the Los Angeles Olympic singles, and has his own disadvantages.

This is mainly reflected in both age and injury.

Wang Manyu will be 29 years old at the age of 29 in the history of the national table tennis team, he has never allowed a player who is nearly 30 years old and has no Olympic singles experience to participate in the Olympic singles competition for the first time!

In addition, there are injuries. Wang Manyu's old knee and waist injuries are a long-term hidden danger. Can the 29-year-old physical fitness support the high-intensity retreat style?

3. Summary of the competitive landscape

Whether Wang Manyu can participate in the singles in the Los Angeles Olympics, Kuaiman is the biggest variable.

In the next three years, if Kuaiman can make greater progress and maintain his stability in foreign wars while gaining an advantage in direct fights with Wang Manyu, then the coaching staff of the Los Angeles Olympic singles will likely send Kuaiman and Sun Yingsha to participate in the competition!

Of course, the 2027 World Table Tennis Championships is also crucial. At that time, whoever can win the singles championship of the 2027 World Table Tennis Championships will have the lead in the Olympic competition!

For Wang Manyu, if he cannot win the World Table Tennis Championships in 2027, the best result is that Sun Yingsha defends the title again. Otherwise, if Kuaiman or other players win the championship, Wang Manyu will completely lose the opportunity to play in the Olympic singles!

Wang Manyu's core obstacle to the Los Angeles Olympic singles is Kuaiman, not Sun Yingsha. This competition is essentially a strategic choice between the national table tennis team "seeking stability" (Sun Yingsha + Wang Manyu) and "seeking innovation" (Sun Yingsha + Kuaiman). Wang Manyu's chances of participating in the competition are currently less than 40%. The next two years are a window for him to reverse his destiny, but he needs to overcome the three challenges of technological upgrading, age bottlenecks and the impact of the new generation. If Kuaiman's foreign battle continues to stabilize, the Chinese table tennis team will most likely complete iteration with the "old leads the new" lineup, and Wang Manyu may regret not playing singles again.