The 14th National Games were held in Shaanxi, with various events distributed across 66 venues in multiple cities throughout the province. The table tennis matches were scheduled at Yan'an University.
Compared to four years ago, when he lost the men's singles final to Ma Long, Wang Chuqin hoped to achieve a better result this time. Shasha, who had also made her debut in 2017, lost to Ding Ning in the women's singles quarterfinals. Ma Long and Ding Ning were the men's and women's singles champions of the 13th National Games in 2017 respectively, and both of their losses had a somewhat coincidental, metaphysical feel to them.
Though they frequently had video calls and chatted on WeChat every day, having not seen each other for over a month, Wang Chuqin's breath still hitched involuntarily when he saw Shasha walk into the training hall carrying a small white backpack. Then, just as Brother Long had said, his eyes went on duty.
Chapter 117