Chinese table tennis player Wang Chuqin shared the course of his struggles from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, claiming that keeping a positive attitude and mindset are the key factors in achieving victory in competition.
The rising star is known for his strong performance at the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar.
In the event, he defeated Brazil's Hugo Calderano 4-1 as he won his first men's singles title. Also, Olympic champions Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha defeated Japan 3-1 to win their third straight mixed doubles title.
During a recent interview in Beijing, Wang likens the entire competition to a marathon, and each day's matches to sprints.
"I think it's like a marathon, and it's one that requires you to maintain a high focus continuously. It's not just about persevering, but about giving it your all to win, to strive for victory. In this kind of marathon, you must get through each day to reach the next. However, the next day is the same, and you have to give it your all to strive for victory, and to survive," he said.
"I believe that your beliefs can shape your thoughts and spirit. Your state of mind and attitude today depend on the strength of your own convictions. If you have aspirations and goals for this competition, you may not feel tired at all," he said.
For Wang, the last marathon-like competition was the 2024 Paris Olympics held 10 months ago.
On July 30, 2024, when Wang put his paddle aside on the floor in order to hold the national flag for celebration after the mixed doubles final of the Paris Olympics, a group of photographers rushed to the front to capture the moment and inadvertently stepped on and broke his paddle. The table tennis player had to change his racket and lost 4-2 in the round of 32 to Sweden's Truls Moregard.
In fact, aside from the broken paddle, injuries also plagued Wang at the Olympics. Due to over-training, he suffered rotator cuff injury that made it difficult for him to even raise and move his arms.
Reflecting on the Paris Olympics, he still considers the unexpected emergency to be a very painful experience in his professional career.
"Looking back on that experience, I feel that I'd never want to go through it again. If I had to face it now, I still think it would be very difficult. A person's mood, mindset, and overall state are truly important, which can shape your understanding and perspective on things, as well as the development tendency," he said.
"I think that experience helped me gradually understand myself better. Now, looking back at the competition, I would wonder if I had been in perfect condition at that time, including my paddle and arms, would I really have been able to win the Olympics? I'm still not very sure about that," he said.
After the Paris Olympics, Wang had been in the doldrums for over half a year. However, he never lost heart despite repeated setbacks.
"In the end, I asked myself whether I still had an attachment to table tennis. The answer is yes -- I am attached to table tennis, I'm unwilling to give up, and I don't want to let go. I still want to see what I can achieve, especially since I'm still young. I don't want to concede defeat just like that," he said.
Table tennis star Wang Chuqin stresses importance of positive attitude, mindset during sporting events
Chinese President Xi Jinping's New Year message delivered on the New Year Eve has drawn positive responses from scholars and former officials from several countries, who say that the series of global initiatives proposed by Xi have provided fresh momentum for multilateralism and shared development at a time of growing uncertainty.
While the reactions touched on the broader vision outlined in Xi's New Year message, they also focused on the initiatives Xi has put forward over recent years, particularly the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the newly proposed Global Governance Initiative.
Highlighting the significant importance of these initiatives, they have emphasized the need for equality, inclusiveness and a fairer international order.
"We need a more just international order and a truly multilateral system. China stands almost alone today as a global force actively advancing genuine multilateralism. Therefore, these initiatives are most welcome," said Michael Schumann, chairman of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has placed the emphasis on dialogue and trust-building between civilizations.
"It is essential now more than ever to promote communication and understanding between China and the world to enhance cultural exchanges and build mutual trust. As President Xi has repeatedly emphasized, China supports principles of unity, inclusiveness and peacefulness. These values should guide our collective efforts to build bridges rather than walls," he said.
From a governance perspective, Russian scholar Ekaterina Zaklyazminskaya, head of the Center for World Politics and Strategic Analysis at the Institute of China and Modern Asia under the Russian Academy of Sciences, has viewed the Global Governance Initiative as a structured response to global challenges.
"The recently proposed Global Governance Initiative presents a comprehensive framework of ideas. It prioritizes establishing a more just international order, champions multilateralism, and upholds the principle of 'people first.' Through its concrete practices, financial assistance, and tangible support for multilateral bodies like the U.N., China has demonstrated that its commitments are substantive. China is taking tangible steps toward a fairer and more reasonable global governance system," she said.
Scholars from the Global South also have seen historical echoes in the initiatives.
"Some of the developed and developing countries have highly welcomed the Global Development Initiative, because this initiative emphasizes the need for partnerships -- partnerships that commit resources to end global poverty and pursue common and shared development. The Global Governance Initiative, in my view, echoes again the call that was made by Asian [and] African countries at the Bandung Conference in 1955 for equality, for mutual respect, for respect of territorial integrity, [and] for respect of sovereignty," said Bongani Maimele, director of international relations at South Africa's National School of Government.
"These initiatives are revolutionary in nature. They are reshaping the political philosophy of global governance. Today's world is far more complex than it was 80 years ago, and interdependence among nations has deepened. Therefore, we need new philosophical perspectives to examine our world and new models of engagement to foster a new type of international relations," said Sheradil Baktygulov, director of Kyrgyzstan's Institute of World Policy.
Int'l scholars praise Xi's initiatives, call for stronger multilateralism
