On December 27th, Beijing time, Fan Zhendong announced on social media that he would withdraw from the world rankings. He also informed the public that he did not know when he would retire and revealed the injuries and various pressures he experienced during the Paris Olympic cycle. Constrained by the new WTT regulations requiring fines for non-participation, he made the decision to withdraw from the competition, followed shortly after by Chen Meng who also released related content. The withdrawal of Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng is indeed for a reason, and the national table tennis team has turned misfortune into good fortune, receiving two pieces of good news, which Liu Guoliang has been waiting for.
Analyzing Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng's withdrawal from the event. First, according to this week's world ranking released by the International Table Tennis Federation, Fan Zhendong is currently ranked sixth in the world with eight valid points, five of which are assigned zero points. The world ranking is completely linked to commercial matches. The 2025 schedule is also very dense, and even an ironman would find it difficult to hold on, let alone Fan Zhendong, who was heavily consumed at the Paris Olympics. With the decision to deduct money for non-participation in the 2025 schedule, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng were unable to bear the burden and were in a semi-retirement state, announcing their withdrawal. The WTT ranking was also a helpless move.
For Fan Zhendong himself, he had previously mentioned retirement, and Wang Hao had given him a long vacation to adjust himself. During this period, Fan Zhendong attended multiple commercial activities and enriched his life, and it is not excluded that there may be other directions for development. However, he did not expect to be so passive under the strict regulations of WTT and had to make this decision in advance. Because of Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng's withdrawal, the national table tennis team also received two pieces of good news.
Firstly, regarding the event regulations and schedule of WTT, there have been complaints online for a long time. Previously, Aruna was owed prize money and deducted points, which caused a huge uproar, and foreign associations also supported him. Although it ended inconclusively at that time, with the announcement of the new 2025 schedule, there are many doubts online again. And now with Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng's open statements, as the men's and women's singles champions of the Paris Olympic cycle, they can make this decision to openly oppose the WTT commercial events, which is also to defend the legitimate rights and interests of athletes from another level, hoping to get adjustments.
It should be known that the WTT commercial events are completely based on the model of tennis Grand Slams, raising ticket prices, but the quality cannot compare with tennis at all. Moreover, the 2025 schedule is overwhelming, and points will be deducted if you do not participate. Prizes are not issued in a timely manner. For athletes, it is a double attack. Over time, the body will be dragged down, and only they themselves will bear the consequences. Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong made this decision to speak up for the athletes.
The second piece of good news is that the withdrawal of Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong actually achieves Liu Guoliang's goal for the 2028 cycle in a way. It allows more positions to be given to young athletes to come up and gives them more opportunities to exercise. As Liu Guoliang said, entering the new cycle of 2025, more opportunities will be given to young people to compete. The first year is for training, the second year the athletes gradually mature, the third year enters the sprint stage, and the fourth year is to prepare for the Olympics.
Liu Guoliang has repeatedly expressed his enthusiasm for young athletes and hopes to help them grow quickly through competitions. Especially the upcoming 2025 Asian Cup, it is expected that more young players will participate to gain experience. And now the withdrawal of Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng undoubtedly gives these athletes more opportunities to participate. For Liu Guoliang, although it is hard to bear, but in order to stand at a higher position, for the development of the national table tennis team, it is necessary to add more fresh blood of young athletes to form benign competition, and also improve the influence of the national table tennis team in the world, promote the development of table tennis.