再续“乒乓外交”佳话！本届世乒赛都有这些亮点
北京时间22日凌晨，2021年世界乒乓球锦标赛抽签仪式在美国休斯敦进行。
这是美国第一次承办世乒赛，此前这一乒坛盛会唯一一次登陆欧亚之外的城市还是在1939年。
今年恰逢中美“乒乓外交”50周年，近年来充满变数的中美关系也让本届赛事备受关注。在去年特朗普政府要求中方关闭驻休斯敦总领事馆之后，中方也撤销了对美国驻成都总领事馆的设立和运行许可——成都是2022年世乒赛的举办地。
本届世乒赛将于美国当地时间11月23日，北京时间24日凌晨正式开赛，不管是不是球迷，许多人都期待着再一次看到“小球推动大球”。
The world’s best Ping Pong players are drawing lots in Houston, Texas on the first World Table Tennis Championship being held in the United States.
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of China-U.S. “Ping Pong Diplomacy”, which eventually normalized the relations between the two sides during the Cold War. In 2022, the championships will be held in China’s Chengdu.
Both cities had the other sides’ consulates closed down, following The U.S. Trump Administration’s decision to suddenly shut down China’s Consulate in Houston in 2020.
The Championship will officially kick off on Nov. 23, with high hopes from many that the “small ball of Ping Pong can move the big power diplomacy” again.
中美选手将组队出战世乒赛混双比赛
北京时间21日，在国际乒联纪念“乒乓外交”50周年晚宴上，两对中美跨国配对的混双球员亮相，林高远(中国)/张安(美国)和卡纳克(美国)/王曼昱(中国)两对组合将参加即将揭幕的休斯敦世乒赛。
此前，中国乒乓球协会联合美国乒乓球协会向国际乒联提交了允许中美混双配队参赛的申请。国际乒联执行委员会最终召开会议并批准了该请求。
23日，正在美国休斯敦备战世乒赛的中美两国混双跨国配对组合进行了首次合练，两支队伍还相互交换了球衣。
明日凌晨5:20分卡纳克/王曼昱将出战，对阵一对俄罗斯选手；6点林高远/张安将对阵葡萄牙的阿波罗尼亚和邵洁妮。
China's Lin Gaoyuan got the ball rolling on Monday night as he warmed up with his American partner Lily Zhang during a joint training session for a much-anticipated mixed doubles event on Tuesday. Lin's compatriot, Wang Manyu, was paired with U.S. talent Kanak Jha.
The Chinese Table Tennis Association and the U.S. Table Tennis Association jointly submitted the request to allow China-U.S. pairs to compete to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), whose Executive Committee approved the request on Sunday, according to a statement published on the ITTF's official website.
Lily Zhang/Lin Gaoyuan (L) and Kanak Jha/Wang Manyu during a training session for the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2021. /CFP
1971年4月10日至17日，在中美两国领导人的共同努力下，参加第31届世乒赛的美国乒乓球代表团访华，成为新中国成立后第一批访问中国的美国客人。第二年，中国代表团回访，打破了中美关系20年的僵局，开启了中美关系正常化的历史进程。
Fifty years ago, the U.S. table tennis team was invited by their Chinese counterpart to visit China at the conclusion of the 31st World Championships in Nagoya, Japan. The U.S. players landed in Beijing on April 10, 1971, becoming the first U.S. group to visit China since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
The Chinese team paid a return visit the following year, thus breaking the ice after two decades of China-U.S. estrangement, and eventually leading to the normalization of bilateral ties.
中美跨国混双之外，我们还将看到……
本届世乒赛，中国乒乓球男队由樊振东领衔，另有梁靖崑、王楚钦、林高远和周启豪四名选手参赛。女队的五人阵容则由陈梦、孙颖莎、王曼昱、陈幸同、王艺迪和钱天一组成。
在22日凌晨的抽签中，中国男队的签运不佳，五位参加男子单打的运动员中有四人扎堆上半区，三位世界冠军樊振东、林高远和王楚钦更是同在1/4区，仅大赛新人周启豪独守下半区。
两对男子双打组合，梁靖崑/林高远和樊振东/王楚钦，也双双进入上半区。
Four of China's five elite athletes, including world No. 1 Fan Zhendong, will share a star-studded top half of the men's singles after the draw made for the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.
Fan, who attended the draw ceremony alongside newly-crowned Olympic women's singles champion Chen Meng, will be joined by fifth seed Lin Gaoyuan, sixth seed Liang Jingkun and another compatriot Wang Chuqin in the upper half.
Japanese teenage sensation Tomokazu Harimoto joins rising Chinese Taipei star Lin Yun Ju, 2019 runner-up Swedish Mattias Falck and German table tennis evergreen Timo Boll in the opposite half.
相较之下，中国女队这边的签位就“幸运”多了。单打方面，头号种子陈梦和4号种子王曼昱镇守上半区，陈幸同则与王曼昱同处2/4区。2号种子孙颖莎与3号种子、国乒最大对手伊藤美诚同在下半区，或在半决赛相遇。
两队女双运动员陈梦/钱天一和孙颖莎/王曼昱分处上、下半区，有望会师决赛。
In the women's singles draw, world No. 1 Chen, fourth seed Wang Manyu and their teammate Chen Xingtong are in the top half, while China's world No. 2 player Sun Yingsha joins another compatriot Wang Yidi, and world No. 3 Mima Ito of Japan in the opposite half of the draw.
China's Liang Jingkun/Lin Gaoyuan head the men's doubles event, with compatriots Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, as well as 2019 runners-up Alvaro Robles of Spain pairing with Romania's Ovidiu Ionescu, placed in the same half of the draw.
South Korea's Jeon Jihee/Shin Yubin, the top-seeded pair in the women's doubles draw, and third seeds Nina Mittelham/Sabine Winter of Germany occupy positions 1 and 32 in the top half. Meanwhile, defending champions Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu and Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa/Miu Hirano, seeded second, are placed in the opposite half.
2021休斯敦世乒赛完整赛程如下：
via @WTT世界乒联