In just a couple of hours after Fan Zhendong announced his withdrawal from the world rankings, Chen Meng also publicly declared the same decision. Behind the simultaneous announcements of the Olympic men's singles champion and women's singles champion, who are currently the top-ranked male and female singles players in the table tennis world, not only has there been significant public attention; but the reasons for their withdrawals are strikingly similar — as the "oppressed party," Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong have risen up in rebellion!
Accompanying their uprising, the "tyrannical clauses" by which WTT exploits its players have come to light. It is well-known that WTT is actually a commercial format strongly promoted by Liu Guoliang, and the current success of WTT is inseparable from the strong support of the Chinese market and Chinese businesses.
In order to build the brand value of WTT, both the WTT officials and Liu Guoliang, who holds multiple positions including Vice Chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation, Chairman of the WTT World Table Tennis Corporation Board, and President of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, must consider maintaining the organizational management stability of the events. They will introduce some policies to encourage athletes to actively participate in competitions, ensuring the brand value of the events, protecting the interests of sponsors, attracting more sponsors to join, and drawing worldwide attention.
Starting from the goal of maintaining brand value, it is determined that the high-frequency WTT events require top athletes to have high attendance, which is inseparable from the strong support of the Chinese table tennis team. Along with the continuous participation of national table tennis champions, this not only inevitably squeezes the survival space of traditional domestic table tennis events such as the Super League and Direct Qualification Tournament, but also disrupts the traditional competition system of the national table tennis team. So, while proposing "high requirements" and "high attendance" to these athletes, should they not also be given corresponding "high guarantees"?
Unfortunately, the WTT officials have not done so. According to the previously released WTT annual bonus data, Wang Chuqin, who won four titles in the season (including two WTT Grand Slams and the WTT Finals championship), tops the list with 261,287.Inthewomen′ssinglescategory,WangManyu,whowonthewomen′ssingleschampionshipattheFukuokaFinals,surpassesSunYingshawith244,325, ranking first, while Sun Yingsha ranks second with 234,962.ChenMengonlyreceived124,475, and Fan Zhendong did not even make the list.
Of course, this is not all. According to tax policies around the world, basically 20% of all bonuses must be paid to the event host country. The Chinese team is collectively managed for travel, and all matches are played as a unified team action, with 50% of the bonuses going to the team.
This means that Wang Chuqin and Wang Manyu, who are used like donkeys in a production team, frantically participate in WTT events, and end up with only over 100,000ayear,whileChenMengendsupwithonly50,000 to $60,000. Such a bonus system has already determined that WTT has become a "high standard," "high attendance," but "low output" system for athletes. This is not all; this bonus may not even be paid on time, as there have been cases where overseas athletes publicly demanded their bonuses.
How can an event with "high standards," "high attendance," "low output," and uncertain timely payment of bonuses motivate athletes to participate? Relevant decision-makers have introduced regulations that give WTT branch events higher points than the nine major events. This makes athletes who want to stand out on the international stage have to frequently participate and accept WTT's exploitation. And the new rule of fining athletes for non-participation undoubtedly exacerbates the exploitation of athletes!
For athletes like Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng, who have already achieved fame and fortune, with commercial activities earning seven figures, there is no longer any motivation for them to be exploited by WTT. There is no need for them to continue with you.
Their actions can also be seen as representing all national table tennis athletes in firing the first shot against this unfair system! Fan Zhendong can at least represent the Shanghai team in the Super League, but whether Chen Meng can participate in the Super League is still uncertain! Along with this storm, not only has public opinion been stirred up like ripples from a stone thrown into water, but He Xiaolong, a well-known media personality who recently openly stated, "I firmly believe that Liu Guoliang has already been dismissed, it's just my personal judgment," has now openly called on Liu Guoliang to "resign proactively rather than face enemies on all sides."
For Liu Guoliang and the national table tennis coaching staff, the withdrawal of a group of veterans is inevitable, and how to quickly bring new players to the forefront instead of being seen as relying on old achievements will be a huge challenge facing the national table tennis team in the future!