March 30, Tsinghua University John Ma Cup Table Tennis Mixed Team Competition was solemnly held in the Gas Film Gym, the EEA Table Tennis Team won the championship again, achieving the eight consecutive championships of the John Ma Cup table tennis team!

The EEA team has a strong cohesion and a good tradition of bringing the old with the new. The EEA teacher-student joint team consisting of Mr. Ding Qingqing, Lv Bo (Alumnus of 2006), Li Zhongxiao (EEA Doctor Class 15), Zhang Yan (EEA Master Class 181), Liu Shuxiang (EEA Master Class 182), Cai Fang (EEA Class 52), Xiao Yikang (EEA Class 61) and Liu Zhizhen (EEA Class 72) took part in this competition. Old players Chen Zhengying and Zhou Tianrui who are alumni returned to Tsinghua University to act as bench coaches. Alumni such as Zhang Xinran, Du Zhouye and Peng Lin specially returned to school from such places as Hong Kong and Hangzhou to cheer for the EEA’s team.

In the morning group game, the EEA’s team players competed against table tennis teams of School of Humanities, School of Social Sciences and Department of Chemical Engineering (DCE), THU. As all teams keep improving their tactical levels, so it is not easy for the EEA’s team to achieve good results. After a series of competitions, the EEA team won the first place and defeated the teams of School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences by two 3:0, respectively. However, it met with a lot of challenges when playing against the rival team of Department of Chemical Engineering. The DCE team has the strong strength because having its members from the Tsinghua University table tennis team. After fierce competition, the EEA team finally won the first place in the group competition with a score of 3:1.

The afternoon game entered the fierce knockout stage. The EEA team first met its old opponent--the team of Department of Mechanical Engineering, an old strong school-level table tennis team which has scored brilliant results in several John Ma Cup competitions; for example, it reached the Group-A final in 2017 and got to the knockout stage in 2018. Therefore, although the EEA team won by 3:1, the competition was no less intense than the competition for championship.

In the semi-finals, the EEA team met its old rival, the team of School of Economics & Management (SEM), which competed against the EEA team in the knockout stage for three consecutive years. In the game, the SEM team members performed extraordinarily; especially after the men's singles won, the cheers for the SEM team rang from inside and outside the game venue, and so the SEM team had the momentum to stop the EEA team winning the championship again. However, the EEA team members were not in disorder in the face of fierce competition and encouraged each other. Men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles each got one point separately, which calmed down the SEM cheers.

In the final of Group A, the opponent was the team of Department of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) that stood out in the John Ma Cup competition. The DMS team members have good personal skills; especially they had a booming and fierce momentum after successively defeating the popular teams of Departments of Economics & Management, of Civil Engineering, and of Automation. The EEA team brainstormed, carefully deployed, and dispatched the changeable players with a positive attitude. Though the game was ups and downs, the EEA players dared to fight on the venue, leaving no chance to opponents, and eventually won the first in Group A with a 3:0 score.

With the finals of Group A and Group B, this year's John Ma Cup table tennis competition ushered in the final finale--Championship competition: Group A champion EEA team VS Group B champion--the team of Department Automotive Engineering (DAE). The winner of the Championship will be given the chance to engrave the team's name on the Championship Cup permanently. It is worth mentioning that the EEA has engraved one full side of the John Ma Cup. The EEA team’s name will be engraved on a new side if it wins the championship! But is the DAE team defeated easily? Their two male singles players and female singles alumni have the same strength as the Tsinghua University table tennis team, which is strong enough to defeat the defending champion. The final was on the line. After winning the first game, Liu Shuxiang of the EEA team was backed into a corner at 8:10 in the second game. Fortunately, Liu Shuxiang had strong strength and scored 4 points at the critical moment for the first record of the EEA. Later, the DAE female single alumni drew back one point with their unique way of playing. Under tremendous pressure, Lv Bo, an alumnus of the EEA, stepped forward to win the match at 11:9 and 16:14, reflecting an outstanding level by virtue of his key tactics. Finally, a mixed pair of Li Zhongxiao and Zhang Yan scored the last point for the EEA team in the shout of the audience. So far, EEA table tennis team has achieved eight consecutive championships in John Ma Cup table tennis competition, once again refreshing the longest consecutive championship record in the history of John Ma Cup Table Tennis Competition.

During eight years of competition course and sweat, the EEA team won the championship of the John Ma Cup table tennis competition for eight consecutive years, which means countless efforts and struggle of EEA’s table tennis players, as well as enthusiasm and dedication of one after another team members to the table tennis cause. Eight consecutive championships reflect not only the EEA’s strong strength but also its profound connotation in table tennis competition!