After putting their belongings in the hotel, everyone headed to the court to familiarize themselves with the venue.
This was Lin Qumu's first time abroad. He held his phone, curiously taking pictures of everything, but he quickly put it down.
"Why aren't you taking pictures anymore?" Lin Yusheng asked curiously.
"Compared to back home, it's not as pretty here."
"Haha, that's true."
Upon arriving at the stadium, staff guided them to the court closest to the entrance stage. Other national teams were training on every court, and this was the last one available.
The coaches quickly decided on the time allocation: each event would get one hour, determined by a game of rock-paper-scissors among the coaches. The results were quickly out: men's singles first, followed by women's doubles, men's doubles, mixed doubles, and women's singles.
Lin Qumu quickly followed Coach Xia Xuanze onto the court. They started with rallies, then net play and other technical training, and even played a small five-point match. Coach Xia Xuanze gave some technical pointers to the two players, then had them come off the court.
Lin Qumu recalled some of the action essentials, then pulled Lin Yusheng to play on the stage. The stage wasn't large, but it allowed for a good game.
Just then, Lin Qumu felt someone tapping him. He stopped his movements and turned, only to see Kento Momota smiling, standing in front of him.
"Kou ni Qiwawa?" Lin Qumu asked in extremely broken Japanese.
"Konnichiwa." Kento Momota bowed slightly. "I watched your training, and I really like your movements. Could you help me train? This is my personal invitation."
Lin Qumu: What did you say?
He pulled out his phone, opened the simultaneous translation app, and then gestured for Kento Momota to say it again. Kento Momota smiled and repeated it.
Lin Qumu looked at the translation and then said, "I need to report this."
Kento Momota nodded after hearing the translation. Lin Qumu went to Coach Xia Xuanze and asked, "Kento Momota from Japan came to find me, saying he wants private training."
"Do you want to go?" Coach Xia Xuanze asked.
"The calendar says my first match is against him. He probably wants to gather some intel, and for me, why not?"
"However, Kento Momota's strength is above yours, so you need to be careful," Coach Xia Xuanze said. "I'll give you half an hour."
"Alright."
Lin Qumu returned to Kento Momota, nodded in agreement, and explained that he only had half an hour. Kento Momota nodded and then led Lin Qumu to an empty space.
Half an hour later, both of them, smiling on the surface but calculating their own schemes internally, returned to their respective teams.
"How was it?" Coach Xia Xuanze asked when he saw Lin Qumu return.
"I didn't show much of my strength, and neither did he. Not much intel, but it was a good half-hour of practice," Lin Qumu said. "I'll practice with Asheng again."
"Go ahead and practice."
But Lin Qumu was soon called away by the men's doubles team who were about to go on court, to practice flat drives.
Japanese team.
This time, the Japanese team's head coach, Park Joo-bong, personally led the team. He asked in Japanese, "Kento, how was it?"
"I couldn't tell. We both hid a lot of things. But, I also need to take him seriously," Kento Momota said.
"Good," Park Joo-bong nodded and continued to coach the other players.
Kento Momota walked to the bench and sat down. His eyes were calm, but it was clear that his eyes no longer held the passion for Badminton. Perhaps now, Badminton was his reliance, but it was difficult for him to reignite his passion for Badminton.
Back at the hotel, Lin Qumu checked his phone. The second round of the India Open results were out. In men's singles, Shi Yuqi defeated Rasmus Gemke from Denmark, and Master Li lost to Watanabe Koki.
In women's singles, Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, and Wang Zhiyi all defeated their opponents.
In women's doubles, Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning lost, while Zhang Shuxian/Zheng Yu won.
In men's doubles, the sole survivor Liu Ou won, while Liu Boyang/Chen Yi lost to the Danish theatrical duo Astrup/Rasmussen.
In mixed doubles, Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping lost to Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino, while Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin defeated their opponents and advanced to the next round.
(Note: This round of the India Open combines reality with the author's fiction; please do not fully equate it with reality.)
After understanding the situation, Lin Qumu closed his phone, then showered and went to sleep.
The next day, the Switzerland Open began.
Lin Qumu was in the seventh match on Court 1, and Lin Yusheng was in the tenth match, his opponent also being Japanese player Kanta Tsuneyama. With Naraoka Kodai and Kenta Nishimoto now on the scene, Kanta Tsuneyama, whose ranking and strength were weaker than theirs, could only be the third singles player for Japan, and now that Watanabe Koki was also slowly emerging, Kanta Tsuneyama's position as third singles was unclear and required results to prove himself.
As for Kento Momota, it was difficult to see him in team competitions now, and it was unclear why they didn't choose the more stable Kento Momota.
The preceding matches were intense, making Lin Qumu feel a surge of excitement. Especially the clash between Anders Antonsen, the European grinder from Denmark, and Loh Kean Yew, the fast player—the fierce, point-for-point offense was truly spectacular. However, in terms of defense, Anders Antonsen was slightly superior to Loh Kean Yew, but Loh Kean Yew had faster continuity.
Ultimately, Loh Kean Yew defeated Anders Antonsen with scores of 23:25, 21:7, 26:24. The first match being so thrilling truly energized the entire audience. They were all very much looking forward to the upcoming matches.
However, the subsequent matches were rather sleepy. Although the average duration of each match was not short, at 67 minutes, they were basically of the clear-and-drop type, and there were also women's singles matches. While women's singles matches undeniably have high entertainment value, compared to the wide-open, aggressive men's singles, women's singles were still not as captivating.
Finally, it was Lin Qumu's turn to enter the court. This Switzerland Open had an almost exclusive welcoming ceremony for the participating players. They invited the famous DJ, Alan Walker, as the introducing guest.
Lin Qumu loved Alan Walker's electronic music, and he walked onto the court to the rhythm.
Kento Momota followed behind him.
Lin Qumu placed his racket bag in the cubby, took out a towel, two rackets, glucose solution, an energy bar, and a banana. He took a sip of glucose, came to the court, and shook hands with the Lady Referee, the service judge, and the Mayor of Geneva.
To open the door to the global market this time, Switzerland spared no effort in promoting the Switzerland Open. The Mayor of Geneva personally appearing also demonstrated Switzerland's determination.
Kento Momota came to the center of the court and shook hands with the Lady Referee, the service judge, the Mayor, and Lin Qumu. This was their first encounter.
Park Joo-bong sat on the coach's bench on Kento Momota's side, and Coach Xia Xuanze sat on Lin Qumu's side.
Then came the decision for serve and court selection. Lin Qumu chose gold, and Kento Momota chose black.
The Mayor of Geneva tossed the coin high, then let it fall to the ground. The coin rolled to Kento Momota's feet, and Kento Momota quickly stepped back. The result was gold.
Lin Qumu unhesitatingly chose the lower court, which was the downwind side. Kento Momota gave up the right to serve, letting Lin Qumu serve. Lin Qumu then took a shuttlecock from the service judge and rallied with Kento Momota.
Five minutes later, the Lady Referee signaled that the match was about to begin. Lin Qumu signaled for a new shuttlecock, picking up a fresh one. He first served a high forehand, then performed a series of technical movements on the court. Kento Momota, in his classic style, tied his shorts, also performed some technical movements, and returned the shuttlecock to Lin Qumu.
"Ladies and gentlemen. To my right, Japan, Kento Momota."
The entire audience erupted in applause.
"To my left, China, Lin Qumu."
The entire audience cheered thunderously.
"Lin Qumu to serve. Zero-zero, play."
(Using 'Kento' to refer to Kento Momota and 'Lin' to refer to Lin Qumu; whoever scores has their score listed first.)
Lin served, Kento pushed a clear to Lin's backhand baseline. Lin forehanded a cross-court rally, Kento jumped to intercept and smashed. Lin fell to the ground to retrieve, but the shuttlecock didn't clear the net. Service changed, one-zero.
Kento served, Lin returned a drop shot to the net. Kento was fearless, fighting hard at the net with excellent quality. Lin cleared high with excellent quality, Kento dared not attack, adding power to transition. Lin blocked and dropped to the middle to limit Kento's angle of return. Kento faked a drop and then pushed a clear to Lin's forehand, Lin reacted with a second movement, transitioning forward. Kento quickly followed up with a net shot, Lin cleared high, Kento sliced a cross-court smash, Lin did not react, the shuttlecock landed in the court, Kento scored. Two-zero.
Lin scooped up the shuttlecock, signaling for a change, which the Lady Referee and Kento both agreed to.
Kento served, Lin forehanded a clear straight, Kento judged it out, but the line judge signaled in, Kento requested a challenge.
Coach Xia Xuanze saw Lin Qumu looking a bit downcast and immediately said, "Try not to get into long rallies; your foundation isn't strong enough. Increase the speed, pick up the pace."
Lin Qumu nodded and took a sip of glucose.
The Hawk-Eye challenge showed the shuttlecock just barely clipped the line, Kento's challenge failed, service changed, one-two.
Lin served, the quality wasn't high, Kento quickly moved forward to pressure, engaging in a flat drive exchange with Lin, but Lin responded calmly. Lin actively softened the shot, Kento cleared the shuttlecock to Lin's forehand baseline. Lin transitioned cross-court, Kento paused and pushed straight, Lin hit a high clear backhand, unexpectedly Kento quickly cleared high, hitting a straight attack from the overhead area. Lin fell to the ground to retrieve, but the shuttlecock flew too high. Kento smashed violently downwards at the net, hitting Lin's arm.
Kento immediately raised his hand to apologize, Lin responded by raising his racket. He signaled for a new shuttlecock, but the Lady Referee disagreed, signaling to continue the match.
Score, three-one.
Later, Kento Momota made one error and hit one smash out. But Lin Qumu's error rate was too high, giving Kento Momota the lead into the technical interval, with the score at eleven-three.
Coach Xia Xuanze immediately went forward, instructing Lin Qumu not to go head-to-head with Kento Momota. Nowadays, Kento Momota's defensive counter-attack play is not as good as in previous years; he has now re-adopted an aggressive attacking style, precisely to gain a lead, so that he has room to play afterwards.
After the interval, the situation on court was still the same as before. Lin Qumu tried to increase his speed, but his error rate was too high.
At this point, the score was eighteen-five.
Lin Qumu challenged the in-call. He wasn't sure himself whether this shot was in or out.
Taking advantage of the challenge, Lin Qumu contacted the system:
"System, use the Violent Lin Dan Experience Card."
"Beep, usage successful. The host will possess all abilities of the 2008 Olympics final's Violent Lin Dan for the next forty-five minutes."
Lin Qumu immediately felt an unusual sensation within his body.
What was that?
Before the Olympics, that boundless craving for a gold medal, and the self-doubt and anxiety about his own abilities.
What was that?
Facing his opponent, that infinite desire to win and the urge to tear his opponent apart.
That was, the belief in invincibility.
That was, the confidence to win.
That was, absolute suppression!
The challenge was successful; it was an out-of-bounds shot, and Lin Qumu scored.
Kento Momota was ready to receive the serve, but when he saw Lin Qumu's current state, he was a little stunned and immediately raised his hand to signal he wasn't ready. Luckily, Lin Qumu hadn't served yet, otherwise, in this situation, Kento would likely have been warned by the Lady Referee.
This state was very abnormal. How could someone who was just bewildered suddenly burst out with such a will to survive? Shouldn't they have already given up facing such a score difference?
If it were Kento Momota, he would definitely give up this game to prepare well for the second game. This was also normal; it was about managing physical strength. Fighting for the first game was particularly uneconomical and demanded too much.
Impossible, it must be an illusion.
Kento Momota was ready to receive the serve.
Come on, let me see if you can really turn the tide!
