Fan Zhendong's name is destined to be recorded in the history of world table tennis! This refers not only to the various honors Fan Zhendong has won, but also his courageous action of leading the withdrawal from the world rankings and WTT events. As the men's singles champion of the Paris Olympics, Fan Zhendong suddenly announced his "withdrawal" decision at the end of 2024, triggering high attention from across the country and even the global table tennis community. Subsequently, Chen Meng, the women's singles champion of the Paris Olympics, and Ma Long, the Olympic "six-time gold medalist," also withdrew from the world rankings and WTT events one after another. Apart from Ma Long's main reason for withdrawing being related to personal retirement, Chen Meng's withdrawal was for the same reason as Fan Zhendong's, both expressing dissatisfaction with the new rule imposed by WTT that "non-participation will result in fines." With Fan Zhendong's brave act, support has come not only from many domestic official media, numerous table tennis fans, but also from several foreign association players. Now, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has also become involved, set to review the existing regulations of WTT. Not only has a five-person investigation team been established, but Liu Guoliang has also been excluded.
To fully understand the development of this incident, let's start with Fan Zhendong's official announcement of withdrawal. At the end of 2024, Fan Zhendong, a super grand slam player and men's singles champion of the Paris Olympics, suddenly announced on social media that he would proactively withdraw from the world rankings and WTT events. He stated that the reason was his inability to bear the new rule imposed by WTT that "non-participation will result in fines." Fan Zhendong also confirmed to the outside world that he would never retire and would strive to participate in more different competitions! Fan Zhendong's statement was very brave. His decision to withdraw not only put him in a passive situation in his career but also directly pushed the WTT event created by Liu Guoliang into the limelight of public opinion. According to the existing rules of the WTT World Table Tennis Association, Fan Zhendong's withdrawal from the world rankings and WTT events means that in the future, if he wants to participate in the three major events, especially the Los Angeles Olympics, he can only do so with the sole approval of the Chinese Table Tennis Association. However, the key issue here is that Liu Guoliang is not only the chairman of the WTT World Table Tennis Association board but also the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association. This is why Fan Zhendong put himself in a passive situation in his career.
After Fan Zhendong officially announced his withdrawal, Chen Meng and Ma Long also withdrew from the world rankings and WTT events one after another. The withdrawal of these three top Olympic champions from the national table tennis team directly led to Liu Guoliang facing criticism from many table tennis media people. Within a short week, the waves stirred up by Fan Zhendong shook the world of table tennis, with many foreign association table tennis athletes beginning to voice their support for him on social media platforms. Among them, French champion Simon Gauzy even stated outright that Fan Zhendong's actions were to help table tennis athletes fight for legitimate interests, a reality that cannot be ignored! In response to public pressure, WTT also issued a public statement, but after reading the full text, apart from explaining that the rule mentioned by Fan Zhendong was not a new rule, the other justifications could be said to be meaningless. However, what WTT did not expect was that Fan Zhendong would once again confront them head-on, leaving a message saying, "The officials never informed me of a fine for withdrawal before, and I only received notice last week, so after weighing the options, I decided to sign and withdraw."
Thus, the real pressure came upon Liu Guoliang, as he is not only the chairman of the WTT World Table Tennis Association board and the first vice-chairman of the ITTF but also the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, holding three important positions. This made the public begin to care about which perspective Liu Guoliang was taking to deal with the problem. If he stood from the perspective of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, then he should work together with Fan Zhendong to fight for the interests of the players. If he stood from the perspective of WTT, was the previous statement approved by Liu Guoliang? If he stood from the perspective of the ITTF, should he step forward to mediate the unequal agreements between the athletes and the WTT events? It was not until the last day of 2024 that Liu Guoliang accepted an interview with CCTV News and publicly spoke out on the matter.
Liu Guoliang first highly recognized Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng, and Ma Long, claiming that the three are great table tennis athletes who have won gold and silver medals on the international stage and have repeatedly brought glory to the country, especially winning many honors for the Chinese national table tennis team. They are meritorious athletes and will become legendary athletes. In addition, Liu Guoliang also said something very important. He claimed, "I fully understand and respect their decisions. As the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, I will spare no effort to support the athletes in defending their rights and interests! Personally, I also think that the mandatory events of WTT are worth discussing. The mandatory participation, assignment of 0 points, and fines by WTT, I believe, will cause huge psychological pressure on the athletes. WTT should give these older athletes and meritorious athletes a competition exemption."
Liu Guoliang's words are quite interesting. He indicated that he was looking at the decision of Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng, and Ma Long to withdraw from the perspective of the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and also revealed the imperfect aspects of WTT's regulations. Seeing this, Liu Guoliang had already made his choice. Sure enough, three days later, the ITTF officially stepped in. According to a report by CCTV News, the ITTF has established a five-person investigation team that will not only be responsible for collecting feedback from table tennis athletes but also review the existing regulations of WTT events. Looking at the list of the five members of the working group published later, Liu Guoliang, as the first vice-chairman of the ITTF and chairman of the WTT World Table Tennis Association board, was excluded! Perhaps it was to avoid risks, or perhaps Liu Guoliang had already chosen the perspective of the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association.
Finally, judging from the ITTF's involvement and the details of Liu Guoliang speaking from the perspective of the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, WTT is likely to adjust its regulations in the future, especially providing special competition exemptions for older and meritorious athletes. Liu Guoliang's main responsibilities and tasks will gradually return to the Chinese Table Tennis Association.
