Chuqin’s 2025 World Cup: A Fight, Not a Fall

Wang Chuqin’s 2025 World Cup just wrapped. In the semifinals, he lost to Hugo Calderano, 10-12 in the deciding seventh game. When the last ball dropped, Wang squatted down and wiped the sweat off his face with his arm. Then he smiled. Regret thickened the air like humidity before a storm. The crowd felt it. For Wang, alone at the center, it had to be a thousand times heavier. But still, he smiled.

This wasn’t his first World Cup. Last year, the same city, same stage, he was knocked out by Ma Long. He later described that loss broke him, not just emotionally but to the core. Back then, Wang was riding high after being selected for the Paris Olympics, but that confidence didn’t carry him far. This year, Wang walked in with fresh titles from the Asian Cup and WTT Chongqing Champions. He should’ve been on fire. But things didn’t click from the start.

Group Stage: Not So Simple

The playing format¹ and that cursed seamless ball messed things up early. Wang advanced from the group stage, but didn’t breeze through it as expected. His first opponent, 17-year-old Aditya Sareen,² dragged the first two sets to 12-10. In this round-robin system, every set mattered, and pressure sat heavy. Then came Tomislav Pucar,³ who beat Wang six years ago. This time, Wang handled him with sharper attack-defense transitions and better control. But the real problem wasn’t the opponents. It was the ball.

Yeah, the seamless ball made a comeback.

It’s lighter, floaty, and full of chaos. Just like it did at last year’s Asian Championships, use only 70% of your usual power, and the ball might fly farther than it should. Use 120%, and the spin still won’t land as heavily. The whole balance gets thrown off. Moreover, it creates a mess of lucky points, far more than usual. For strong forehand attackers like Wang Chuqin, it’s harder to find that sweet spot of power and control. Meanwhile, players who rely on quick, punchy backhands get a big boost.

Watching the matches dragged me right back to that same frustration. Floaty, low-spin balls. Off-beat rhythms. Random deflections. Countless lucky points. It all piled up, and unfortunately, Wang got caught in it again. He clearly struggled more and for longer than most top players and couldn’t shake it off, even by the end. (I’ll look into this ball’s impact in a separate post this week.)

He wasn’t alone. Top names like Felix Lebrun, Patrick Franziska, Lin Gaoyuan, Dang Qiu, Jang Woojin, and Lin Yun-Ju all got knocked out early. Victims of both the ball and the unique playing system.

Knockouts: From R16 to the Edge

Looking back at all his matches, there’s another detail worth noticing: none of Wang Chuqin’s opponents were recent or frequent matchups. That lack of familiarity played a part. From the round of 16 against Kanak Jha,⁴ Wang looked hesitant on serves and returns. His usual aggressive style didn’t come out clean, probably from that ball messing with his feel. Jha wasn’t strong enough to push it further, but that inner struggle in Wang was already written all over the game.

Carrying that discomfort, Wang ran into Benedikt Duda in the quarterfinal.⁵ Duda, ranked world 17th, is strong, experienced, and well-rounded. Both left-handers delivered what I’d say was the best match of the entire World Cup. After splitting the first six games, Duda reached match point at 10-9 in the decider. With all the pressure on Wang, and over 10,000 supporters watching in the arena, Wang surprised everyone by going for a bold long serve.

“No one thought I’d dare go for it,” Wang later said. “It was the last point. If you can crush my long serve, then fine, you can have it. If I lose, so be it. Just go with whatever comes to mind. Don’t leave any regrets behind.”

He did, and it worked. Duda misread the serve and failed to return it. Wang saved the match point, then reeled off three straight points to win the game 12-10. Even Yosuke Kurashima, former head coach of Japan’s men’s national team, praised the gutsy serve.

The mental warfare, tactics, counterattacks, rhythm swings… Wow! I didn’t know much about Duda before, but I walked away with genuine respect for him after that match. Check the video for that match point stretch, with commentary in different languages, especially the French crew from RMC Sport, who bring so much passion and fun. Oh là là! 🤣🤣

Then came the semifinal. Wang Chuqin vs. Hugo Calderano.⁶ Game one, Wang misfired with short backhand plays. In game two, he switched to short forehand shots, mixed in some long pushes, and even targeted the middle. It gave Calderano real trouble and set the tone for the next three games. Wang built up a 3-1 lead. Victory felt just one step away.

Then game five started, and everything flipped. For reasons we couldn’t figure out, Wang abandoned the effective tactics. He seemed a bit abstracted, defaulting to long backhand shots aimed at Calderano’s middle zone, even after they repeatedly failed. Even a timeout from Coach Wang Hao didn’t pull him back onto the safe track. Calderano picked up on the pattern, pushed back hard with varied placements, and started stacking points. A crazy number of lucky balls helped. Bit by bit, Calderano dragged Wang into his tempo and took control of the match.

In the final game, Wang tried to reset and take back control, but Calderano was ready. He read the shots, blocked Wang’s strong smashes with ease, and played with total confidence. Wang looked rushed, like he knew the window was closing fast. We all know how it goes in moments like this. Sometimes, it comes down to one thought, one breath, and whether you can stay calm and steady. Who can hold their breath a little longer. This time, Wang didn’t hold long enough.

And that was it.

That’s the brutal reality of a major tournament.

Calderano then won his first World Cup singles title, making history as the first Pan-American world champion in table tennis. He later called the semifinal against Wang the most challenging and most memorable match of his run.

In the Silence Between Points

Wang Chuqin always says wins and losses are just part of the game and no one is born to win every time. But pressure is a different beast. Public expectations stack match by match. And how you carry that weight might matter more than the score.

The matches showed some of the same issues we’ve seen before. Wang still struggles longer than most top players to adapt to unfamiliar conditions, especially when the equipment changes. He sometimes lacks patience in long rallies and rushes to reset to the third-ball attack. That’s his comfort zone, his signature, sure. But when it doesn’t work, what then? Where’s Plan B?

This isn’t just about technique. It goes deeper into how Wang Chuqin was raised in the bias system. He’s a left-handed player trained in a setup designed around right-handed doubles play. That “attack, then pass” rhythm, the habits of a support player, still linger even in singles. Ten years of that training etches patterns into your game like old scars. I hate to bring this up again, but the truth keeps appearing in real matches.

By the way, Wang still doesn’t have an official supervising coach. His coaching and training situation has been in limbo for a while now, like we’ve talked about before. Coach Xiao Zhan was spotted with him in the training hall in Macao after months of absence, which was unusual since he rarely shows up at singles-only events. That led public to think he might be back on Wang’s side.

But honestly, I don’t trust Xiao anymore after Paris. His priority is clearly the mixed doubles squad, not Wang’s individual growth. His training methods are harsh, excessive, and outdated, and they’ve already taken a toll on Wang’s physical and mental health. Before the round of 16 this time, Wang was seen rubbing his arm again. It was the first time he looked that uncomfortable in months, and that entire stretch happened when Xiao wasn’t around. 😑

Back to the tournament.

That said, it wasn’t just the ball that did him in. What really cost him was maybe underestimating how brutal this tournament would be. At this level, everyone’s studying you and aiming straight for your head. You can’t lose focus. Can’t give away a single easy point. No one will hand one back.

If you want it, you better go all in and gamble with fate. When you’re on the court and you’ve got chips in your hands, don’t wait for it to ripen and fall. Grab it before anyone else can. That’s what it takes.

Growth doesn’t move in straight lines. It spirals. Just like people. Just like dynasties.

After the Paris Olympics, honestly, I don’t care too much about medals. What stays with me is every choice Wang makes in each point, every moment he stands firm and sends out a shot with intent. The journey is built on those moments, ball after ball, match after match. Win or lose.

The fire in each shot says, “I’m here.”

One day, we’ll all look back and say it was worth the trip.

References

1. Qualification Pathway & Playing System ↩︎
2. Wang Chuqin vs Aditya Sareen | Match Highlights | #ITTFWORLDCUP 2025 – YouTube ↩︎
3. Wang Chuqin vs Tomislav Pucar | Match Highlights | #ITTFWORLDCUP 2025 – YouTube ↩︎
4. Wang Chuqin vs Kanak Jha | Match Highlights | #ITTFWORLDCUP 2025 – YouTube ↩︎
5. Wang Chuqin vs Benedikt Duda | Match Highlights | #ITTFWORLDCUP 2025 – YouTube ↩︎
6. Hugo Calderano vs Wang Chuqin | Match Highlights | #ITTFWORLDCUP 2025 – YouTube ↩︎