What do Cream, Rush, The Police and Nirvana have in common? All four Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees consisted of only three members. These so-called "power trios" proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that three was more than enough manpower to rock your socks off. China is fortunate enough to have the table tennis equivalent. Fan Zhendong (pictured, right), Xu Xin (center) and Ma Long (left) are listed #1-2-3 atop both the domestic and the world men's rankings. The "Big Three" recently found themselves in Lingshui City, joining the rest of the national team for the "Tokyo 2020 Preparation for China Table Tennis - Olympic Simulation Games." With the originally scheduled 2020 Olympics delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese Table Tennis Association has staged a dress rehearsal to stay sharp. Meticulously following the schedule of next year's events, champions have already been crowned in mixed doubles, women's and men's singles, and women's teams. This left the "A-Team" of Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin to face the "B-Team" of Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan for the men's team's title. According to men's coach Qin Zhijian, "The men's first team is the main force of the Chinese table tennis team, while the men's second team is similar to the Japanese team." This comparison relies largely on handedness, as there are two lefties (Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Chuqin) and one rightie (Liang Jingkun) on the B-Team. Similarly, their rivals Japan feature Jun Mizutani (L), Koki Niwa (L), and Tomokazu Harimoto (R). With all players locked in, imagining they were in Tokyo competing for real medals, the "A-Team" brought their "A" game, sweeping their teammates and competitors 3-0 to claim the last fool's gold medals on offer. "Through this practice test, we can discover the problems for China's table tennis team, and we will summarize these as soon as possible in order to face the next stage of training," said coach Qin. Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and Ma Long are all certainly future Hall-of-Famers. In the illustrious tradition of power trios before them, they produce a seemingly inexhaustible string of hits.

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