On April 4, the women's singles quarter-finals of the 2026 Macau Table Tennis Singles World Cup staged the "National Table Tennis Defense Battle", but there were successive upsets on the field. Wang Yidi was swept by German star Sabine Winter 0-4, and Chen Xingtong lost 1-4 to Korean player Shin Yubin. The two main players were eliminated one after another. So far, only Sun Yingsha is left in the first half of the national table tennis women's singles. In the second half, Wang Manyu is struggling to defend the line. The strong rise of players from foreign associations has brought unprecedented impact to the national table tennis.
As the backbone of the national table tennis team, the duel between Chen Xingtong and Shin Yubin was a battle of offense and defense, but the game was one-sided and passive. In the fourth game, there was a rare "egg-eating" scene for national table tennis players: Chen Xingtong's condition completely collapsed, serving errors, attacking the net and other unnecessary mistakes occurred one after another, and he was beaten by Shen Yubin with an 11-0 disparity. Shin Yubin also became the first Korean female player to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Shin Yoobin
Competition commentator Liu Guozheng commented that the core of Chen Xingtong's defeat lay in his passivity in the whole process of the serve and return. "There was not much difference in hard power between her and Shin Yubin in the stalemate stage, but they frequently fell into passivity in the serve and return stage. As a result, they were always suppressed by their opponents during the stalemate, making it difficult to seize the initiative. The overall rhythm was completely controlled by Shin Yubin."
The world's No. 1 Sun Yingsha encountered a strong impact from the 18-year-old Egyptian teenager Hannah Godard. After seven fierce battles and consecutive saves in the decisive game, she finally advanced with a thrilling 4-3. Especially the decisive game was thrilling: Sun Yingsha was once behind 2-6. At the critical moment when she got the match point 10-8, she relied on her strong psychological quality to score consecutively, and finally completed a shocking comeback 13-11.
Sun Yingsha
Talking about this difficult victory, Sun Yingsha revealed that she was prepared for a hard fight before the game, "Gowda created the history of African table tennis. She also won the game through a reversal yesterday, so I had long expected that this game would be very difficult. The whole game today was very close, and in the end it was two points away from deciding the outcome. Both people were using their brains to compete, and both sides performed well during the stalemate."
As for the biggest difficulty brought by Gundam, Sun Yingsha said frankly, "She was in really good condition today. She is already tall, so no matter which line I pull, it is difficult to kill her directly. At the end of the seventh game, I also made some mistakes myself and was a little hesitant. Fortunately, I strengthened my tactics in the last two points, and I was lucky enough to win."
Being able to push the world's number one into a desperate situation, Hannah Gundam's strength is no accident. Gundam uses a rare hexagonal racket, which strengthens his backhand violent fighting ability. Coupled with his height advantage, his forehand covers a wider area. His unconventional playing style makes it difficult for opponents to adapt. In the previous 1/8 finals, she saved 4 match points in a row when trailing 6-10 in the decisive game, and reversed the world No. 24 Yuan Jianan 4-3, becoming the first African player to reach the World Cup women's singles quarterfinals.
Hannah Gouda
As early as 2020, 12-year-old Gundam reached the top of the ITTF U15 world rankings, becoming the first player in the history of African table tennis to win this honor. In recent years, she has continued to attack the top players of the national table tennis: in the 2024 WTT Chongqing Championship, she and Chen Meng fought until the decisive game before losing unfortunately; in the WTT Montpellier Championship of the same year, she defeated Chen Xingtong 3-1, causing a big upset.
In another focus battle of the women's singles quarter-finals, national table tennis player Wang Manyu and Japanese slicer Honoka Hashimoto launched a nearly two-hour attacking battle. In the end, Wang Manyu won 4-2 with difficulty and successfully advanced to the semi-finals, defending the bottom half of the defense for the national table tennis team. Her semi-final opponent will be South Korean player Shin Yubin.
After the game, Wang Manyu admitted that this victory was hard-won, "Today's game was very exciting, both sides played at a very high level. It is impossible for her or me to win a simple or easy point. Every point will be very entangled, so I always remind myself to be patient on the court."
Wang Manyu
On April 5, Sun Yingsha will face Sabine Winter in the semifinals. Winter has defeated two national table tennis players, Qin Yuxuan and Wang Yidi, in this tournament. His unique system of "backhand anti-arc rubber + forehand blast" is extremely threatening, and the weird rotation makes it difficult for national table tennis players to adapt. Regarding this opponent, Sun Yingsha said, "Not only Winter's rankings and results, but also her current playing style have taken on a completely new look in the past few years. I haven't played against her since she changed her playing style, so I am very much looking forward to competing with her in a major competition. I believe this game will be very tough."
Wang Manyu will compete with South Korean player Shin Yubin for a spot in the finals. Shin Yubin defeated Han Ying and Chen Xingtong successively with his quick connection and initiative ability, and was in good condition. This duel will test Wang Manyu's offensive efficiency and defensive stability.
With the overall improvement of the strength of external players, the road to the national table tennis women's singles championship is already full of thorns. Whether Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu can successfully meet in the finals and defend the country's dominance in the women's table tennis world has become the biggest highlight of the upcoming events.
