Chapter 308: A Slow-Starter?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Pengfei Cui held the ball in hand, glanced at Harimoto Hisashi with a poker-face, then served his first ball. Since this was the first serve in this contest, Pengfei Cui didn't choose to make a limit erupting serve, hence, it only brought a regular effect.
Of course, such a "regular serve" was regular only in top professional players' eyes. If it was an ordinary person who caught the ball, he would probably lose the "regular serve". Harimoto Hisashi had already made a sound-attack strategy. Without hesitation, he waved a return to attack Pengfei Cui's backhand.
Harimoto Hisashi's serve was shot at Pengfei Cui in a threatening manner, sending up the war-cry!
Pengfei Cui is always a slow-starter. The game just started, the first ball he is going to receive is so fierce, he can hardly catch it safely. Thinking about this, Kimura Juichi curled his lip and showed an elated smile.
Unexpectedly, Pengfei Cui reacted immediately with a backhand screw pull, and hit the ball to the across corner. It was not a tricky attack, but it happened all of a sudden, which was out of Harimoto Hisashi's expectation. He hesitated for a half beat, unfortunately, so he missed the ball.
The score was now 1:0, as Pengfei Cui got the first ball.
Was I too impatient? The last ball was fierce, maybe I should calm down a little bit and play it safe. Hatimoto Hisashi thought.
Pengfei Cui began another serve, which was, just like the first ball, regularly served. Harimoto Hisashi again chose to give a fierce attack. Pengfei Cui reacted just like what he did in the last ball, using a backhand screw pull to hit the ball to the opposite corner.
Since he lost the first ball, Harimoto Hisashi was mentally prepared. He had predicted that there was a high potential that Pengfei Cui would make another backhand screw pull, so this time, he didn't lose the ball, but instead, he successfully rushed to the right position and made a catching movement.
However, Harimoto Hisashi underestimated Pengfei Cui, whose backhand screw pull skill was definitely the best in the world. In other words, such skill brought him fame. Even in the National Ping-Pong Team, Pengfei Cui's backhand screw pull skill could be written in the textbook and mimicked by the other team members.
Pengfei Cui's backhand screw pull contained special angles and fast speed, and the most important thing was, the ball produced a strong rotation. Many of his opponents might be able to catch the ball, but they could not deal with that strong rotation. Hence, when they hit the ball back, they made unavoidable mistakes.
It was the first time Harimoto Hisashi fought against Pengfei Cui, so he had no idea how terrifying Pengfei Cui's backhand-screw-pull ball would be like. He used the previous way to catch it. Therefore, undoubtedly, this ball brought another sad ending to Harimoto Hisashi.
At the time when Harimoto Hisashi's bat touched the ball, he immediately realized that he was going to lose this ball, too.
Such a strong rotation!
Harimoto Hisashi tried hard to press the bat in order to control the route of ball, to have it not fly out of bounds. Unfortunately, it was too late. The ping-pong ball flew directly out of bounds.
In fact, even though Harimoto Hisashi could press the bat, he would lose one point. He was not prepared for catching a loop drive at all. Even if the ball could successfully fall on the table, it would not have a high quality. When fighting a world's best ping-pong player like Pengfei Cui, returning such a low-quality ball was like offering points to him.
The score changed into 2:0, the audience clapped. This was not out of their expectation. In all matters, including fame and competence, Pengfei Cui was several levels higher than Harimoto Hisashi, so he was supposed to lead the game.
However, what happened made Kimura Juichi nervous. It was too late for him to defend himself.
It's probably because that the game just started, Harimoto is a little nervous. It's OK, now Harimoto San is going to serve. Calm down, and get points back by two serves!
Serve right switched into Harimoto Hisashi's hand.
I must play it more actively! Thinking about this, Harimoto Hisashi served a top spinning ball.
Crack! Pengfei Cui stepped forward with a rush. A white shadow flashed across Harimoto Hisashi. It was Pengfei Cui's lightning return, which was followed up by the judge's shout: "0-3!"
I lost another ball! Harimoto Hisashi's face turned cloudy at once.
Harimoto Hisashi knew that Pengfei Cui had a fierce playing style, so he chose to take evasive action, making a shorter ball instead. Normally, when receiving such a kind of ball, players tried to pick a short play, then form a stalemate situation, hoping for a chance in such a situation.
The previous opponents Harimoto Hisashi met all chose to pick a short play when dealing with such a kind of serve. Therefore, Harimoto Hisashi took it for granted that Pengfei Cui would do the same thing.
However, what was out of Harimoto Hisashi's expectation was that, Pengfei Cui didn't make a short play, but offered a direct backhand forward instead. Backhand punching ball was a vital training program technique in the National Ping-Pong Team. This method was quite challenging, and was even more difficult to complete with a high quality.
Pengfei Cui's backhand punching also existed in the textbook. Especially when Pengfei Cui was in a good situation, his backhand punching was a nightmare to his opponent.
After losing three balls, Harimoto Hisashi was anxious. He chose fierce playing method again on the fourth ball, but lost another point due to return ball error. Then it was Pengfei Cui's turn. Since there was a huge gap between the two's abilities, Pengfei Cui caught the right of serve and won another two points. The score changed into 6:0.
...
"This score of 6:0 is not of our expectations. Harimoto Hisashi is only 15 years old, so on competence, he is surely several levels lower than Pengfei Cui."
"Right. Moreover, Pengfei Cui seems to be in quite a nice condition today. No matter whether in his serve or return, they all have high finishing qualities."
"Yeah, according to my past experience, Pengfei Cui usually starts slow. But today, apparently, he has corrected this defect."
The two commentators spouted eloquent speeches. In their eyes, there was no need to explain this contest anymore, as the result was transparent: Pengfei Cui was whacking a kid.
Even commentators could see that Pengfei Cui was in a very good status, so how could Kimura Juichi turn a blind eye to this as Harimoto Hisashi's coach?
What's going on here? Isn't Pengfei Cui a forever slow-starter? How is he in such a good condition so soon after the game starts?! If he keeps this up, Harimoto San will be smashed!
Kimura Juichi stared at the two players blankly. Reality was totally different from the plan. Digressing on the opposite side, Kimura Juichi had already predicted the final result.
Does this mean that Pengfei Cui has corrected his defect? Right, this sounds possible. After all, the Chinese team's chief coach is Zhizhong Gu!
Kimura Juichi looked around the coach seats, and happened to see that Zhizhong Gu was calmly clapping his hands for Pengfei Cui with a smile. Zhizhong Gu had gained much weight in recent years, so his smile looked simple and honest.
However, in Kimura Juichi's eyes, was the devil's smile.