Just entering 2025, the anti-corruption campaign targeting China's sports sector has achieved further results. Li Quanqiang, the former "top leader" of the Volleyball Management Center and the former director of the Volleyball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport, was taken away for investigation on suspicion of serious violations of law and discipline. Perhaps many fans are not familiar with Li Quanqiang, but during his tenure, he had many conflicts with Lang Ping, the former meritorious coach of the Chinese women's volleyball team. It can even be said that behind the defeat of the Chinese women's volleyball team at the Tokyo Olympics, there was Li Quanqiang's absurd guidance. Interestingly, after Li Quanqiang's downfall, famous reporter He Xiaolong named the Chinese women's volleyball team and the national table tennis team on social media platforms, indicating that they will be the focus of this year's anti-corruption efforts.
Li Quanqiang is different from most leaders within China's sports system in that he did not come from an athletic background. After graduating from Shenyang Physical Education College in the 1980s, he directly entered the Cultural and Educational Department of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission's Science and Education Department as a staff member. In November 1997, Li Quanqiang began serving as the director of the office of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission's Volleyball Sports Management Center. Throughout his career, he also served as the leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team several times, and in March 2006, he began serving as the deputy director of the Volleyball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport. Starting from February 2017, Li Quanqiang was promoted to serve as the director of the Volleyball Sports Management Center, officially becoming the "top leader" of Chinese volleyball. It is worth noting that Li Quanqiang retired as early as August 2022, and his downfall in January 2025 also indicates that the anti-corruption campaign in China's sports sector continues to adhere to the strict rule of "investigating back 10 years"!
Although Li Quanqiang led the Chinese women's volleyball team to win Olympic gold medals twice during his tenure, he had multiple conflicts with Lang Ping, which directly led to the Chinese women's volleyball team ending their Olympic journey with the disgraceful record of losing all four group matches before the knockout stage at the Tokyo Olympics. After the Olympics, Lang Ping resigned voluntarily! At that Olympics, the performance of the Chinese women's volleyball team could be described as bizarre, and most fans saw that there were serious problems within the team, but they couldn't pinpoint exactly where the problem lay. To this day, it remains a hot topic among volleyball fans, and even after Lang Ping resigned, she bore many groundless accusations. Now, with Li Quanqiang's downfall, the signs of the conflict have become quite clear, and Li Quanqiang has become the first official in the volleyball field to fall in this round of anti-corruption actions in China's sports sector, indicating that the anti-corruption efforts against Chinese volleyball are just the beginning.
In addition, after Li Quanqiang's downfall, famous journalist He Xiaolong discussed Liu Guoliang, the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, and the entire national table tennis team on social media platforms. He Xiaolong stated that the topic of "investigating Liu Guoliang" is no longer something that can be avoided, as the negative public opinion surrounding the Chinese Table Tennis Association is too great. As the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and the WTT Board of Directors, there are too many doubts about the industrial chain between Liu Guoliang and the WTT organization. He believes that Liu Guoliang will eventually be investigated, it's just a matter of time, and Liu Guoliang may even be investigated deeply.
Furthermore, He Xiaolong also named the Chinese women's volleyball team and national table tennis team, claiming that the Central Discipline Inspection Commission has made it clear in the announcement of the Fourth Plenary Session, clearly listing the top ten key areas for rectification, with the sports sector prominently included. The downfall of Li Quanqiang, the former "top leader" of the Volleyball Management Center who had just retired not long ago, suggests that this is just the beginning of the anti-corruption storm. As traditional faces of Chinese sports, the Chinese women's volleyball team and "national ball" Chinese table tennis cannot possibly be immune to anti-corruption efforts! In other words, the Chinese women's volleyball team and national table tennis may become new focuses of the sports sector's anti-corruption efforts in 2025.
In fact, the anti-corruption efforts targeting Chinese table tennis have already quietly begun. In the first week of January 2025, well-known journalist Du Lianyan revealed that Wang Zhongqi, the current vice-chairman of the Henan Provincial Sports General Association and chairman of the Henan Provincial Table Tennis Association, was taken away for investigation on suspicion of "black and gambling." Henan province has even set up two special task forces specifically for this case. Wang Zhongqi was even sent to the ICU during the process of being summoned earlier. Liu Guoliang, the head of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, was also informed of this matter in the first place.
Speaking of Wang Zhongqi, his relationship with Liu Guoliang is close. Because both are from the same hometown, Wang Zhongqi, the former "top leader" of the Henan Table Tennis Association, obtained many resources from WTT. Among them, the first Chinese host city for the WTT World Cup Finals was located in Xinxiang, Henan, and Liu Guoliang personally presented Wang Zhongqi with the "WTT World Table Tennis Federation Outstanding Contribution Award." Interestingly, Wang Zhongqi, like Li Quanqiang, the former "top leader" of the Volleyball Management Center, was taken away for investigation at the age of 62 after retiring. This well corroborates He Xiaolong's statement that the anti-corruption actions targeting Chinese volleyball and table tennis may have really begun quietly.
