The WTT World Table Tennis Association released a video titled "Please receive the New Year's greetings from the Chinese Table Tennis Team." In the video, eight main players of the national table tennis team, including Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, and Lin Shidong, appeared. However, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng were not seen, nor was Ma Long present. Does this mean that they are no longer part of the national team just because they withdrew from the world rankings? This kind of differential treatment is really speechless.
Not long ago, Fan Zhendong announced his withdrawal from the world rankings first. After winning the grand slam, Fan Zhendong had no worries. Faced with the WTT rule that non-participation would result in fines, Fan Zhendong did not comply but bravely became a lone warrior, becoming the first to announce his withdrawal from the world rankings. Subsequently, Chen Meng followed Fan Zhendong's footsteps and also announced her withdrawal from the world rankings. Ma Long was the third, but he chose a relatively mild way to withdraw without issuing a statement, giving face to the national team and Liu Guoliang.
In theory, although all three have withdrawn from the world rankings, this does not mean they have left the national team; these are not equivalent actions. However, on the occasion of the New Year, the WTT World Table Tennis Association seems to be deliberately separating them from the national team. The New Year's greeting video features eight national table tennis players, including Sun Yingsha, Wang Chuqin, Kuai Man, Lin Shidong, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, Liang Jingkun, and Lin Gaoyuan. These eight athletes, either playful or serious, delivered their New Year's greetings.
However, what makes more fans feel uneasy is that although Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong did not announce their departure from the national team, as Olympic champions, the two of them did not appear in the video. Similarly absent was Ma Long, the six-time Olympic champion. The three giants seem to have been artificially cut off from the national team.
This kind of cutting makes fans dissatisfied. Many people left messages on the official Weibo account of the WTT World Table Tennis Association to vent their dissatisfaction. One fan wrote, "WTT's tyrannical clauses forced athletes to retire, with unclear accounts and no financial reports, inflated points and dense events, untimely prize money payments, and high fines. Using unreasonable rules to bind athletes worldwide, squeezing out all domestic events except WTT, compressing the living space of mid-to-lower-level athletes, and exploiting the professional value of top athletes."
Another fan wrote, "Aren't Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng members of the national team? Why are they selectively forgotten? Why are they not included? Liu Guoliang, give us an explanation."