Chapter 29 Looking down
After all the contestants entered the field, the semi-finals of the men's group of the National Archery Championship officially started.
The first match was between the second-ranked G Provincial Team in the qualifying competition and the third-ranked Macau Team in the Macao Team. The two teams were equally strong and the game was ten times the end. At the critical moment, Cao Yan played the role of a star player and used 2 arrows and 10 rings in a row, finally helping G Provincial Team narrowly defeat the Macau Team by 226 to 225, and approached the finals with his head held high.
The wonderful showdown in the first group was like a vigorous appetizer, which made the mood of the audience particularly high. The competition between the strongest province of S and the largest dark horse of Z in the men's group made the audience more and more anticipated.
There is a ten-minute interval between each group of games in the final stage. This fleeting time has become extremely long at this moment. Under the audience's eyes looking forward to the stars and the moon, the players from Provinces S and Provinces Z finally made their debut.
There was a burst of cheers at the scene.
"It's finally out. Although it's only a semi-final, this game, because of the existence of S Provincial Team and Z Provincial Team Tang Hao, makes people look forward to it. The attention brought by this game is even more exciting than the final." In the broadcast room of CCTV, the well-known sports commentator Yang Jian said excitedly.
"This game is indeed worth looking forward to. S Province has two main players, Qiu Tian and Han Tianfu this year. They eliminated their opponents neatly in the finals of the eighth and quarter-quarters. Now in the semi-finals, the Z Provincial Team, which is known as the "big dark horse" in this competition, can defend the title and achieve three consecutive championships historically, which really makes people pay special attention to whether they are the captain of the National Men's Archery Team and the vice president of the National Archery Association. Zhao Qiuhe, who is over 50 years old, said with a gleam in his eyes.
"Yes, there is also Tang Hao from Province Z, a young player who came out of nowhere. Yesterday's qualifying match beat Han Tianfu, Cao Yan, and Qiu Tian to the top, and it is particularly exciting to see how he performs today." Yang Jian added.
"Xiao Yang, you are wrong. Maybe you don't know much about archery competitions and don't know the difference between qualifying and finals." As soon as Yang Jian finished speaking, Zhao Qiuhe shook his head and said.
"What does Mr. Zhao mean?" Yang Jian didn't expect Zhao Qiuhe to say this suddenly, and looked at him with confusion.
"Arrow is a sport that pays great attention to on-the-spot performance." Zhao Qiuhe preached with pride, "The qualifying match reflects more of the status of the players, just like Tang Hao you said. Although I didn't watch yesterday, things like young players who made a big splash in the qualifying match have not happened in the past history, and there are quite a few, but..."
Zhao Qiuhe changed the subject: "The real finals are different from qualifying matches. In the finals of the team competition, only by having strong psychological qualities can one become the final winner. Just like Qiu Tian and Han Tianfu, experienced players will have an absolute advantage in the finals. I would like to say that a player with 100 abilities can play 60% of his ability, which is not as good as a player with 90 abilities but 100% of his ability. Tang Hao may have a good future, but it will not be in this competition."
"But... Tang Hao performed very well in the knockout round in the morning, he..."
"Hey~" Zhao Qiuhe reached out to interrupt Yang Jian before he finished speaking, and said, "Do you think that Province S with Qiu Tian and Han Tianfu can be compared with teams like Province X and Province Y? Province X has a round of tours all year round, and Province Y has a great luck to enter the second round. These two teams have no comparison with Province S."
Although Yang Jian still wanted to refute, Zhao Qiuhe was the former captain of the national team after all. He was not good enough to argue in the studio. He then changed his tone and said, "Well, Mr. Zhao's analysis is very reasonable. Let's see how the two teams will perform on the spot in the frontal confrontation."
"Haha~" Zhao Qiuhe smiled, and heard Yang Jian's dissatisfaction in his heart, and shook his head with a smile.
Just as the two in the studio were having a heated discussion, the players from Province S and Province Z had already entered the competition venue one after another.
Team competition, as the name suggests, looks at the combination of three people in a team.
An excellent player can increase the upper limit of the entire team, but think that the lower limit of the team is the performance of the entire team.
Because the team competition is a one-on-one competition, the order of appearance has a great impact on the team's performance, and each team will appear very cautious in the arrangement of troops.
Among the three positions, the third player who appears is the most important, because in high-level competition, after two players face off, they may draw or the score is very close. At this time, the third player who appears becomes the winner and loser of the game.
On the Z Province, Song Feng fulfilled his promise to Tang Hao and arranged him to appear in the third place.
In the remaining two positions, Dong Jie, who performed more stably yesterday, was arranged to play in the first place, and Pan Yu automatically became the second player to play.
In the S Province, the order of one to three is Ning Huanyu, Qiu Tian and Han Tianfu.
There are 4 rounds of the team competition, one round is 4 minutes. In one round, each player shoots 2 arrows alternately according to the order of appearance, with a total of 6 arrows. Those with more rings won in 4 rounds.
The first to appear were Ning Huanyu and Dong Jie, two veterans who are known for their stability.
As the contestants were ready, the audience also calmed down and looked at the field with breathing intently.
Ning Huanyu took the lead in shooting. The veteran, who is over 30 years old, shot an outstanding score of 17 rings, which made a good start for this game.
After Ning Huanyu shot, it was Dong Jie. He took a deep breath and went on stage. He also shot 2 arrows and 17 rings under the pressure, which caused a burst of cheers on the scene.
As soon as the competition began, the atmosphere on the scene was ignited.
After the two arrows, the two sides tied, and then Qiu Tian and Pan Yu appeared.
The order of appearance in S Province is somewhat unexpected, but Qiu Anguo arranged Qiu Tian to play in the second game, obviously hoping to establish a leading advantage earlier.
Qiu Tian is indeed the number one shooter in China. Both arrows hit 9 rings, and the score of 18 rings also caused a burst of surprise from the audience.
After 4 arrows, the total number of rings in Province S was 35, which was a very outstanding result, and also reflected the absolute strength of the defending champion.
Pan Yu is the one who appears in Province Z.
After Song Feng's private talk yesterday, although Pan Yu's mentality was still a little fluctuating, it was much better than yesterday. After playing, the two arrows 16 rings were not very good, but it was not dragged down.
After the two players PK, S Sheng led Z Sheng by 2 rings 35-33.
The two sides entered the final contest of the first round, with Tang Hao and Han Tianfu appearing one after another.
Chapter completed!