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
Major breakthroughs by Chinese scientists have laid the foundation for a future where space-based solar power stations are capable of wirelessly transmitting energy to Earth and spacecraft, though significant engineering problems remain.
A research team from Xidian University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has made significant progress on the Sun Chasing project, or "Zhuri" in Chinese. The team has developed a ground-based test system for wireless power transmission that can charge multiple moving targets at the same time.
In recent tests, the system achieved a wireless power transmission efficiency of 20.8 percent from direct current to direct current over a distance of 100 meters. It delivered 1,180 watts of power. The team has also built a wireless charging system for drones. In a test, a drone flying at 30 kilometers per hour was able to receive 143 watts of stable power from 30 meters away.
A space solar power station works exactly as its name suggests: a huge array of solar panels placed in orbit. It would collect sunlight in space, where the sun always shines, and then convert that energy into microwaves or lasers to beam down to Earth or directly to satellites and spacecraft. This could address two significant issues: supplying uninterrupted power for space missions and alleviating energy shortages on the ground.
"The construction of space solar power stations could become a major undertaking in the future. One potential benefit is access to a virtually unlimited power supply. Because energy can be collected continuously in space 24 hours a day, electricity could be supplied on an uninterrupted basis," said Fan Guanheng, an associate professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering at Xidian University.
"Secondly, it could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, thereby lowering carbon emissions and helping protect the environment. Thirdly, it could support the development of charging infrastructure in space and enable wireless microwave charging for spacecraft, changing the way power is supplied to space vehicles," the professor added.
In 2018, the research team launched the first phase of the Sun Chasing project to build a ground test system. By June 2022, they had completed the world's first full-link, full-system ground validation system for a space solar power station. Now, the team has moved to phase two. The goal now is to solve the challenges of generating high power in space and transmitting it efficiently over long distances.
According to Duan Baoyan, an expert at Xidian University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, recent breakthroughs include improving the efficiency of solar energy collection and conversion, increasing the precision of microwave beam control to reduce energy loss, and making the transmitting and receiving antennas smaller and lighter, which is critical for space application.
The team has also solved the problem of how to power multiple moving targets at once using a single transmitter. This means that in the future, one space power station could potentially supply electricity to several satellites or ground vehicles at the same time, Duan said.
Despite the advances in ground-based validation, a series of technical challenges must still be overcome before the technology can be deployed in space.
"The first issue that needs to be addressed is the adaptability of components to the space environment, as conditions in space are completely different from those on Earth, including radiation exposure and extreme temperatures. Another challenge involves the deployment and retraction design of transmitting and receiving antennas. We also need to develop thermal management systems to cope with extreme temperatures and temperature fluctuations in space. These are all areas where further breakthroughs are needed," said Qian Sihao, an associate professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering at Xidian University.
"We have now completed the development and validation of a ground-based test system, and our next step is to carry out in-orbit wireless microwave power transmission," Fan said.
With ground validation complete, the team now turns its attention to overcoming the harsh realities of space, aiming to demonstrate in-orbit wireless power transmission and bring the vision of orbital solar energy closer to reality.
Space-to-earth solar power moves closer to reality although hurdles remain: scientists
