On January 3rd, Beijing time, Chinese fans finally received an official statement from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), announcing the establishment of an investigation team to address issues raised by players and review existing regulations.
According to the list of members for this working group, the leader is Sharath Kamal Achanta, the chairman of the ITTF Athletes Committee. This Indian national serves as co-chair of the ITTF Athletes Committee with Liu Shiwen, but surprisingly, Liu Shiwen was not included in the list, which puzzled many people. However, from a practical perspective, excluding Liu Shiwen is not discriminatory; it is highly likely due to the principle of avoiding conflicts of interest since both Liu Shiwen and Fan Zhendong are Chinese nationals.
Furthermore, Liu Guoliang, as the first vice-chairman of the ITTF and chairman of the WTT World Table Tennis Corporation, is himself the subject of the review. Therefore, it is not feasible to allow him to act as both judge and player, making his exclusion from the main list entirely reasonable. Despite the absence of Liu Guoliang and his protégé Liu Shiwen, the WTT World Table Tennis Corporation has stated its full support for the ITTF Executive Board's decision to establish a special working group and backs the mission of this working group.
Fan Zhendong's dissatisfaction with the WTT's霸王条款 (tyrannical clauses) does not merely reflect his personal subjective will. As early as the previous Olympic cycle, many foreign association players, such as Aruna and Simon Gauzy, had repeatedly criticized various WTT rules and regulations, which was no longer a secret. Fan Zhendong, once considered Liu Guoliang's protégé, happily took photos together celebrating their championship at the Paris Olympics. However, in the face of fairness and justice, Fan Zhendong stood up and was the first to sign out of the world rankings, suggesting that the rumors of his conflict with Liu Guoliang were not groundless!
Moreover, although Liu Guoliang acknowledged that some WTT rules were unreasonable and demanded changes, he only responded in his capacity as the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association. He did not mention how he approved the WTT's various霸王条款, thus enacting a story of "the thief crying 'catch the thief'". Amidst widespread doubts, he still went to present awards at the table tennis super league finals. It is unclear whether he genuinely has no fear or is merely pretending to be calm.
Since Fan Zhendong initiated this confrontation, public opinion and sponsors have voiced their support for his decision, causing his commercial value to soar. Even if Liu Guoliang truly wants to bring about change, he is doing so reactively. If the ITTF's review makes significant progress, there is a high likelihood that "Old Liu" may lose his position!
