"In the quarter-finals that will start soon, a total of 30 players who will advance in the preliminary stage will be divided into six groups of five players in each group, and the top three players in each group will advance directly to the semi-finals in the afternoon."

Although there is one more threshold for promotion than the women's group, from the preliminaries to the quarterfinals are five into three in each group, which is a relatively gentle rhythm for the actual players, as long as they have enough strength and stable performance, then there is a high probability that they can successfully advance in the preliminaries and quarterfinals.

In the lounge at the back, before the end of the short 20-minute break, there were already staff from various countries and notaries sent by ISU to witness, and under the operation of the staff, the computer system randomly completed the six groups of quarter-finals according to the basic logic that had been written.

During the short break of the players, the on-site staff shuttled through the backcourt lounge and quickly distributed the grouping information to the coaches of each country.

And in the Swedish team's lounge, Swedish coach Olivier Danielsson, who was the first to get the group list, quickly began to search for the names of the two Swedish players in the list.

Olivier nodded at the first name, but before he could relax for two seconds, he saw the second name on the list - Tully Allison.

The problem, of course, is not Tully's, but Tully's group of players on the first lane.

- It's still Su Liang from the Huaguo team!

Seeing this, Olivier covered his face in pain.

Suddenly, he felt like he knew the mood of the Canadian star Samuel Adams - damn it, Tully's luck seemed a little bit bad.

Chapter 293

When Tully Allison knew that he had been drawn to the same group as Su Liang again, his face immediately collapsed.

"Coach, I'm really praying!"

Pray that in the quarter-finals we don't meet that guy from the Huaguo team again!

But the grouping tables were already out, and it was clear that his prayers had no effect.

Olivier waved his hand weakly and reluctantly patted Tully on the shoulder, which was counted as a comfort to him: "Forget it, the top three can directly advance to the semi-finals, and although the signing order of this quarter-final is not very good, it is not a big problem." ”

As Olivier said, although Tully is going to face Su Liang again in this quarter-final, but in this group, except for Su Liang, the strength of the remaining players is not too strong, and there is no problem in fighting for a promotion place with Tully Allison's ability.

Tully also nodded with concern, but after a while, he looked at Olivier with a pitiful expression: "Coach, in the quarterfinals, you don't need to fight with Su Liang anymore for physical attrition, right?" ”

Hearing this, Olivier silently turned his head, feeling that the player he was bringing was really not very smart.

In the end, under Tully's miserable gaze, he nodded helplessly: "Yes, yes, yes, no need." ”

Regarding Su Liang's performance in the previous preliminaries, he bets that in the quarterfinals, no matter which country's players meet Su Liang, they will no longer consider using the form of physical attrition.

They didn't expect it in the preliminaries, but if they used physical attrition in the quarterfinals?

They're not stupid!

***

Unlike the Swedish team's Tali Allison, although he met Su Liang, the rest of the players in the entire group were relatively ordinary, and here in the Huaguo team, Chu Rui encountered a little trouble.

Samuel Adams, Lee Jae-hyung, Harrick Blasi...... There is also a famous player of the German team and Xiao Chu. ”

After Pei Jing saw the list sent by the staff, he really felt that his back molars were hurting.

"What kind of luck is this...... How the hell are these people in ISU grouped......"

Normally, the preliminaries, quarter-finals, and even semi-finals are indeed random groups, but since the computer is used as a lottery tool, such random groups can also set basic conditions.

For example, 'When the number of players in the group > the number of players currently participating in the screening in a single country, players from the same country are not assigned to the same group'.

In addition to the most basic one, for example, in some competitions, the organizer will also add some conditions set by themselves to the basic conditions, such as 'the top 10 players in the last event cannot be assigned more than 2 players in the same group' and so on.

It's not that you want to escort the players, but mainly to balance the strength of each group, so as to avoid the strong players from appearing in a certain group, so that the really strong players need to compete for a limited number of places together, but the players with mediocre strength are lucky to get the qualification for the promotion.

For example, there are similar cases in the random grouping of players in various events, except for some events that allow players to go to the scene in advance to record the physical draw, and the rest of the events that are randomly grouped by computer can more or less have some basic operating space.

And it's like the situation that Chu Rui encountered today......

Speaking of which, it's really not a problem with the ISU setting these lottery conditions.

In the previous preliminaries, only Samuel Adams and Chu Rui advanced with the first place in the preliminary group, while Lee Jae-hyung and the German player belonged to the same preliminary group in the preliminary stage, and the two saved their strength in the preliminary stage, so the player in the group who advanced to the first place in the group was a player from the British team.

As for Haric Blasi, it goes without saying that he was in the same group as Su Liang in the preliminary round, and finally qualified as the second in the group.

Among these players, Samuel Adams is the only one in the top 10 in the preliminaries, and the rest are either released to retain their strength, or they have not played well when they encounter Su Liang.

After clarifying the situation of Chu Rui's game grouping, Pei Jing, who was still angry, also fell silent.

- Did you say that the ISU gave qualifications? I really gave it.

- But do you think this grouping meets the expectations of the ISU? That doesn't necessarily matter.

In fact, the situation of Chu Rui's group has not appeared in the past games, and this situation is a very standard 'death group'.

It's just that in the past, the group of death usually appeared in the semi-final stage, and it is indeed very rare to see a group of death that looks like an Asura field in the quarter-finals.

Pei Jing rubbed his forehead, wanting to appease Chu Rui, but Pei Jing didn't know how to speak for a while.

In the end, he could only pat Chu Rui on the shoulder: "Go all out and leave no regrets." ”

Chu Rui was anxious for a while before the preliminaries, but after being appeased by Su Liang, his state was eased, and this time in the quarterfinals, it was really time for him to be nervous, but he relaxed again.

He smiled at Pei Jing: "Don't worry, Coach Pei, I'm fine." ”

It's really fine.

He thought he was going to be nervous, but after deciding on the list of opponents, he was a little eager to try it - after all, his opponents were too strong, Samuel Adams, Lee Jae-hyung, Harrick Blasi, and the star Marcus Grave from Germany.

As soon as this lineup came out, it was placed in the previous World Championships, and it would not be too much to say that it was the final of the 1500m single event.

Chu Rui has always been a good sprint player, but in the 1500m event, he has not been able to achieve too good results, and he rarely has the opportunity to compete with so many 1500m experts in the same group at one time.

So when he saw the list, he did chuckle in his heart, but he quickly got excited again - no matter what his results were, he could see what he could do when he competed against these world-class 1500m athletes.

Pei Jing also breathed a sigh of relief when he was sure that Chu Rui was in a good state at this time, and said to him with a smile: "Okay, come on!" ”

He also saw what Chu Rui was thinking, and Pei Jing was also very pleased to see that Chu Rui could face the upcoming game with such a positive attitude.

Su Liang, who was sitting on the side the whole time, looked at Chu Rui, who was gradually getting excited, and there was a trace of expectation in his eyes.

On the side, Mu Yuansheng also noticed the sense of expectation in the eyes of his junior brother, and asked with a low smile: "Do you think Brother Chu can get good results?" ”

Su Liang thought about it, and said seriously: "There are many uncertainties in this game, and whoever advances is possible, what I can be sure of is that after this competition, Brother Chu will cross a threshold in his 1500-meter single event." ”

The space in the lounge is not large, and although the conversation between Mu Yuansheng and Su Liang is small, Pei Jing and Chu Rui can hear it.

Chu Rui looked back at Su Liang,

Then he came over with a smile and rubbed Su Liang's head with two big hands, and then laughed: "Okay! Brother Chu, I'll borrow our Xiaoliang's auspicious words! ”

Maybe it was because he was getting excited, or maybe the hair on Su Liang's head felt good, Chu Rui rubbed Su Liang's head all the time, and only after seeing Su Liang twisting his eyebrows awkwardly, Chu Rui let go of his hand with a smile.

In fact, these players of their national team, including Chu Rui, Shang Fei and You Jian, usually occasionally discuss Su Liang in private, and they will laugh and say - I don't know why, they are all stinky faces, Su Liang's Xiaoice block face looks like people want to come over to tease him, and Wu Gang's stinky face really makes them feel a little frightened.

It's just that, after all, Su Liang is usually quite serious, and they are not too embarrassed to go up to tease others, they always feel that it is not appropriate.

But just now, Chu Rui didn't know how to bless his soul, and taking advantage of his excitement before the game, he shamelessly stepped forward and rubbed Su Liang's head.

Seeing Su Liang's suddenly short-circuited and confused expression, Chu Rui coughed twice embarrassedly after withdrawing his hand, and then hugged someone again: "I'm here to thank Xiao Liang for his words!" ”

Su Liang: "......"

It doesn't look like it's very believing.

However, it can be seen with the naked eye that Chu Rui's whole state at this time seems to be getting better and better, and there is a kind of eagerness for the game that has emerged around him, just like rubbing his hair messily, and it is also a manifestation of his physical and mental excitement and then making a performance beyond his usual behavior.

Although he was a little confused, Su Liang didn't mind it, and he was very looking forward to Chu Rui's current state.

***

The break from the preliminaries to the quarterfinals was very short, and after the staff came to signal that the ice clearing and replenishment work of the venue had been completed, Su Liang, his senior brother and Chu Rui all stood up together and set off together to go to the preparation area on the spot.

When he was about to go out, he didn't know why, Mu Yuansheng also rubbed Su Liang's head.

Su Liang: ?

He looked at his senior brother with some confusion, and was a little confused.

Mu Yuansheng smiled: "Your hair is a little messy, rub it for you." ”

Su Liang: "......"

The two brothers glanced at each other, Chu Rui glanced at the two brothers on the side funny, then waved his hand and said: "Okay, this time we are more in the group, it's time to set off - I wish us all a smooth promotion!" ”

After this sound, Su Liang and Mu Yuansheng also glanced at Chu Rui, and the three of them said with a smile: "Let's go, I wish us all a smooth promotion!" ”

Chapter 294

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it's 11:15 a.m. Swedish time and 6:15 p.m. China time, and the quarterfinals of the men's men's short track speed skating world championships in Gothenburg, Sweden are about to begin!"

With the players from all over the world in the live picture successively ascending to the seats in the preparation area, the domestic Lin Fangzheng and Liao Yuwei also reorganized the topic and transferred the previous commentary discussion to the quarterfinals that are about to start.

"There are 6 groups in the men's quarterfinals that will start soon, and my country's players Chu Rui, Mu Yuansheng, and Su Liang will appear in groups 1, 2, and 3 respectively - speaking of which, this order of appearance can also be said to be very coincidental."

After all, there are a total of 6 groups, and in the case of random selection, the 3 members of the Huaguo team actually appeared in order, which is indeed a coincidence, but for the ice fans and the two commentators on the field, what everyone is most concerned about at the moment is the first group of events that are about to start.

After waiting for Lin Fangzheng to finish the basic introduction, Liao Yuwei also sighed: "The audience in front of the TV should have seen the random grouping table of the quarterfinals just now, and the audience must also be able to see that the most interesting thing in this round of quarterfinals is the first group of preliminaries that will start soon." ”

"Yes." Lin Fangzheng also sighed and said: "In the first group of the semi-finals later, a total of 4 of the 5 players achieved the top 15 in the World Cup 1500m individual year-end points last season, and although my country's Chu Rui failed to get the world's top 15 results in the 1500m ranking of the World Cup individual points, Chu Rui ranked third in the world in the individual points of the 500m. ”

"There is no doubt that the next quarter-final will be a battle of dragons and tigers."

The World Cup Individual Points Ranking is based on the accumulation of points accumulated by players in the rankings of each World Cup throughout the season, resulting in three individual rankings for men and women, as well as two team world rankings for men's relay and women's relay.

This world ranking affects the maximum number of players in a single event in their country during an Olympic year, but in non-Olympic years it is only about individual honours.

When the previous generation of Chinese athletes had not retired, the Chinese team had reached the men's 500m year-end world ranking position, but with the retirement of the previous generation of athletes at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Chu Rui's performance was also quite good, but last season failed to reach the men's 500m world No. 1.

By the way, in the last season, that is, in the 2002-2003 season, although Su Liang only participated in two World Cup events, because he won one gold and one silver in the men's 1500m event in the two World Cup events last season, so in the world ranking at the end of last season, he ranked fourth in the world in the men's 1500m single event with only two races and 18,000 points. He almost reached the top three of the individual standings of the short track speed skating World Cup year-end in his first year of debut.

But even with only the world No. 4 ranking, Su Liang actually set the highest world individual ranking for a young player's debut season so far.

In this year's 2003-2004 season, after the end of the sixth leg of the previous World Cup in Italy, some ice fans have calculated the final world points ranking of the year in advance, and only after the end of the World Championships, ISU should also release it on the ISU official website together with the final results of the World Championships.

Su Liang, who has participated in 3 World Cup events this season, has so far maintained an incredible record of the men's 1500m individual gold medal in the World Cup, and compared with the World Cup records of other players, he has actually locked the first place in the World Cup points in the men's 1500m single event this season.

But then again, if the current player on the court is Su Liang, then domestic ice fans will never have any worries, and will only look forward to seeing which two of Samuel Adams, Harrick Blassi, Lee Jae-hyung, and Marcus Grave will be left behind and unable to advance.

But at this time, it was Chu Rui's turn to replace Su Liang, and ice fans had to be anxious.