Translation of the article content into English:
For the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), one of their most pressing concerns is the withdrawal from world rankings by three top players: Olympic champions Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, and Chen Meng. Compared to this, the withdrawal of Ma Long and Fan Zhendong from the world rankings seems even more embarrassing for ITTF, as these two top athletes' decision has led to a super awkward situation in the men's singles world top ten rankings. Some fans jokingly ask, "What's the point of such world rankings?"
After the Paris Olympics, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, and Chen Meng missed most table tennis events. What many fans did not expect was that Fan Zhendong would be the first to announce his withdrawal from the world rankings. Fan Zhendong stated that due to the new rule imposed by WTT that fines players for non-participation, he could not afford it and thus chose to withdraw from the world rankings. Chen Meng also cited health issues and the new regulations as reasons for her decision to withdraw from the world rankings. The Chinese Table Tennis Association officially confirmed that Ma Long had also withdrawn from the world rankings.
Following Ma Long and Fan Zhendong's withdrawal from the world rankings, an awkward situation arose in the men's singles rankings. Among the top ten ranked players, none have the honor of winning a championship at any of the three major events. In the international table tennis arena, the recognized three major events are the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup. However, none of the ten currently ranked players have won a championship at these three major events.
Looking at the latest men's singles world rankings, among the top ten players, there are four Chinese players: Wang Chuqin, currently ranked first in the world; Lin Shidong, ranked second; Liang Jingkun, ranked fifth; and Lin Gaoyuan, ranked eighth. None of these four Chinese players have won a men's singles championship at the three major events. If even the national team players have not achieved this, it goes without saying for the other foreign association players on the list, including Tomokazu Harimoto, Mattias Falck, and others, who have also not won singles championships at the three major events.
As a result, frankly speaking, this men's singles world ranking does seem somewhat awkward. It's akin to snooker, where if none of the top ten ranked players have won a championship at the three major snooker events (World Championship, UK Championship, and Masters), wouldn't they be laughed at by fans? Some fans jokingly question the current men's singles world rankings in table tennis, asking what the point of its existence is?