Chapter 50: Athletics Challenge
"In today's two games, the men's basketball team should win against Angola. Angola doesn't have a decent inside line, it will definitely be beaten by Da Yao, and I don't have to play at all. As for tennis......" Zhang Guan looked at the information in his hand and smiled slightly: "The opponent turned out to be Blake, an unlucky guy." ”
Blake is an American, a mulatto, his ball quotient is very high, and he was even once considered to be the player with the highest ball quotient in the tennis world, and Blake can be regarded as a professional tennis player who is a top player in high school, because he graduated from Harvard University in the United States with a degree in economics.
Blake is a strong player on hard courts, and he's also a power-oriented player with a strong forehand, a good backhand line, well-rounded technique, a good serve, and a penchant for grabbing points. Although Blake has not achieved excellent results in the Grand Slam, he is ranked in the top 10 in the world for many years, and he is definitely a strong player.
But Zhang Guan knew that Blake had encountered unlucky things one after another after he retired, so Zhang Guan called Blake "unlucky".
For example, in the second year after Blake retired, he once rented out one of his seaside villas, but the house caught fire and burned down, not to mention that even the tenant was unfortunately killed. Although houses in the United States are insured, the places where people are burned are depreciated even in the United States.
Another example is Blake standing at the door of the hotel again, and found a man looking at him in the distance, Blake thought it was his fan and smiled at the other party, but the other party rushed up and pressed Blake to the ground, and then handcuffed Blake. It turned out that the man was a plainclothes police officer who took Blake for a suspect. When Blake smiled at him, he thought Blake was going to pull out his gun, so he rushed up and subdued Blake.
There are many similar bad luck things in Blake.
Bad luck is bad luck, but the current Blake is also a top 10 player in the world after all, which is enough for Zhang Guan to take it seriously.
……
On August 14, the Chinese men's basketball team played against the Angolan men's basketball team. The Chinese team's current record in the group stage is one win and one loss, and as long as they can win this game, the Chinese team will basically get a place to qualify from the group.
The Angolan men's basketball team can be said to be the weakest team in this Olympic Games, but since the 1990 Men's World Basketball Championships, China and Angola have played each other 10 times, and Angola has a slight advantage with 6 wins and 4 losses.
But this time, China has the world's first-class inside line, which obviously has an advantage, and before the game, no one was optimistic about Angola.
Due to Zhang Guan's outstanding performance in the last game, many fans are looking forward to Zhang Guan's good performance in this game, and some people even proposed to let Zhang Guan enter the starting lineup. However, Younas obviously didn't want to expose his tactics too early, so he still let Zhang Guan sit on the bench.
Zhang Guan has no problem with this, and he even hopes that he will not play today. Because at 18:00, Zhang Guan still had to participate in a tennis game of eight into four.
The Angolan men's basketball team is really the weakest team in this Olympic Games, the game was played by the Chinese team at the beginning of an 8-2, and then the Chinese team used the advantage of the inside line to continue to attack, at the end of the first quarter, the Chinese team led 28-15, and Da Yao scored 10 points in a single quarter.
However, in the second quarter of the game, the Chinese team was a little careless, the shooting rate decreased, and the mistakes increased. In this quarter, the Angolan men's basketball team chased 15 points in a single quarter, and the Chinese team only led 44-42.
At the beginning of the second half, Da Yao once again showed his might, not only performing well in the offense, but also sending blocks in the defense, and the Chinese team led 65-51 into the final quarter. Angola scored just nine points in the third quarter.
In the final fourth quarter, the Angolan team strengthened the outside attack, and the score was once narrowed to 9 points, but at the critical time, the disadvantage of the Angolan interior showed itself, and it was blocked one after another, coupled with the distraction and chaos, the Chinese team became more and more courageous, and finally swept the opponent 85-68 to win.
In this game, Da Yao scored 30 points, in addition to Da Yao, the Chinese team also had 4 double-doubles, with a high two-point shooting rate of 81%, 17 assists, and 37 rebounds far exceeded Angola's 19 rebounds, which shows that the Chinese team occupies an absolute advantage on the inside. However, the team's 15 turnovers were much higher than Angola's nine.
Zhang Guan did not play, much to the disappointment of expectant fans, but no one offered an opinion because the Chinese team had won.
In a basketball game, as long as it can be won, then the coach's wrong arrangement can also be interpreted for countless reasonable reasons; And if you lose, even if God is the coach, you will find all kinds of flaws.
With the win over Angola, the men's basketball team's record became 2-1, which can be said to basically lock in the place in the group.
……
At the National Tennis Center, inside the Players' Lounge, Blake is making final preparations for the tournament.
The leader of the U.S. tennis team looked excited, as if he was looking forward to the matchup.
"Since last year's ATP Masters, Zhang Guan hasn't played for eight months. I haven't played for eight months, and it's inevitable that my competitive form has dropped. The team leader spoke.
"Uh...... Sir, I'm very sorry, but in the first three rounds of the competition, I really didn't see any drop in Zhang Guan's form. Blake spoke.
Although Zhang Guan won the first three rounds of matches relatively easily, don't forget who his opponents are, Lu Yanxun, Carreri, and Melzer, the world ranking is 50th, how high can the strength be! So Zhang Guan's first three victories were watery, and in fact, he didn't return to his peak form at all. The team leader said with a smug face.
Blake is not as optimistic as the team leader, but Blake does not intend to admit defeat, after all, he is a top 10 tennis player in the world, and of course has the confidence to challenge Zhang Guan.
……
At six o'clock in the afternoon, the match between Zhang Guan and Blake officially began.
In the first set, both sides held their serve firmly. Blakes is really strong on hard courts, and he is also very good at that kind of high-speed serve, which makes it much easier for Blake to hold serve. The first 10 games were tied 5-5.
In the crucial 11th game, Zhang Guan strengthened the rotation of the ball, and Blake's forehand sideways made frequent straight mistakes, which allowed Zhang Guan to successfully get a break, and then Zhang Guan successfully held serve in his own service game to win the first set 7-5.
In the second set, the two sides played another 4-4, but in the end, Zhang Guan still took the lead to break point in Blake's service game. Blake tried hard to save two break points, but was able to win a ball on the third break point by Zhang Guan, who also won the second game with a score of 6-4.
Zhang Guan defeated Blake and advanced to the semifinals of tennis, facing Blake's touchstone, Zhang Guan proved himself again.
Zhang's opponent in the semi-finals is Britain's Murray, and the match will take place tomorrow afternoon.
And for Zhang Guan, there is another important thing tomorrow, that is, the Olympic track and field competition is about to start. In the men's 100m sprint, he will face the challenge of Usain Bolt!
The battle for the world's No. 1 flyer is about to begin...... (To be continued.) )