Despite being the table tennis Olympic and world champion, a women's singles title from the Chinese National Games had been out of reach for world No. 1 Ding Ning. It's the same for Zhang Jike, the fastest "Grand Slam" collector of men's singles.
The quadrennial event gathers all active players to fight under the flag of their respective provincial teams, making the table tennis competitions the most daunting event even for the members of the all-time leading Chinese national teams.
The table tennis competition has thus been dubbed "a fight among the strongest on the planet." Playing this tournament means you may face more top ranked paddlers than in the Olympics, since all of the top four women's players are from China and four of the top five ranked men are Chinese, the only non-Chinese paddler being world No. 4 Dimitril Ovtcharov of Germany.
In the Olympic Games, only two players from each delegation are allowed to play the singles events, and usually one more is called up for the team events. Since most of the Chinese talents are denied the chance to present themselves in the world's biggest sports gala, they need to take chances to show their true power at the National Games and are fully motivated to beat the star players.
Ma Long, the world No. 1 male paddler and Rio Olympic champion, says he feels the pressure of competing at the National Games.
"It's a huge challenge playing at the National Games. The pressure is mounting, and even heavier than what I felt at last June's world championships in Dusseldorf, Germany," said Ma, who beat Fan Zhendong four years ago to claim the National Games table tennis men's singles title.
"The National Games take place every four years and quite a lot of skilled players can be generated in four years in China, so you have to face not only those tough players already lined up, but also newly polished ones," added the 29-year-old.
"It's a highly watched tournament in China, not just for sports fans and for those less fascinated by sports. The profile can add the pressure as well," said Ma, who defeated Fan again in a seven-set showdown to win his second world title last June.
"I didn't feel any edge over Fan, technically speaking, at the time. I think luck helped me a little bit at the world championships," he said.
Talking about the world championships final, Wang Hao, a three-time Olympic runner-up and now a coach of the Chinese national team, said Ma's experience played a key role in the tight match.
"I did not expect Fan to play in such an impressive style. As a young player, he forced the match into the seventh set after falling behind 1-3, and even led the score in the decisive set at some moments," said Wang.
"Technically speaking, Fan played good enough to win, but Ma's experience gave him the wit to grasp key points and win the championship. Ma just won the Rio Olympics and he knew how to play in the big cases, but the world championships had been the most important tournament Fan has involved in.
"The defeat is helping Fan to garner his own experience in handling big events and key moments," he added.
Wang believes it's rough for the star players at the National Games.
"The Chinese players know each other so well, and many of them are training together in the national team. You know your opponent's skill, you also know their temperament, so the star players can somehow be dealt with through purpose training," he said.
The former manager of the Singapore women's team Zhou Shusen, 76, who has been active in the sport for 59 years and is coaching the Shandong team in the Games, shares Wang's viewpoints.
"The National Games are harder than the Olympics and world championships in terms of table tennis. You don't need to play so many Chinese players on your way to win the Olympics, as only two players from each delegation are allowed to compete.
"But here, you'll play a bundle of Chinese on the way to crown," said Zhou. "Each of your rivals is one out of hundreds or thousands, and no one is an easy target."
