Recently, the national table tennis team has been quite lively. Ever since Fan Zhendong caused a stir, Liu Guoliang's image has collapsed in the hearts of netizens, and as a result, people's trust in the national table tennis team is not as strong as it used to be.
Fan Zhendong's withdrawal means that he cannot participate in upcoming international events. Since he is still young, asking him to withdraw from the international competition arena at this time is equivalent to ending his career prematurely, which is very unfair for someone who has just won an Olympic championship after all, he has just defended the honor of the Chinese men's table tennis team.
Perhaps because the incident became too big, Liu Guoliang had to come forward to explain to the public that based on their achievements and contributions, they can participate in any major event with a wild card. This temporarily calmed the public opinion, but not long after, the World Championships roster in Doha was released, and Fan Zhendong's name was not on it. The promotional poster representing Asian players also featured Wang Chuqin, with no trace of Fan Zhendong.
In fact, apart from commercial matches, there is another important event recently, which is the Asian Cup. The Asian Cup will be held in Shenzhen in February. According to the rules of the event, China can send six male and female athletes each to participate in the competition. Today, China finally announced the participants. The men's team consists of Wang Chuqin, Lin Shidong, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Chen Yuanyu, and Huang Youzheng. The latter two have performed well recently, and Fan Zhendong and Ma Long, who were previously on the invitation list, did not make the Asian Cup lineup.
Regarding this, the head coach of the men's team, Wang Hao, introduced that Wang Chuqin, Lin Shidong, Liang Jingkun, and Lin Gaoyuan are currently the best in terms of strength and world ranking within the team. Huang Youzheng is the men's singles champion of last year's National Championships and Youth World Championships. Chen Yuanyu also reached the final at the WTT Oman station. Therefore, the coaching staff decided unanimously to enroll Huang Youzheng and Chen Yuanyu in the spirit of giving young players more opportunities to participate in competitions and focusing on the construction of the echelon for the 2028 Olympics, hoping that the two of them can get training on the stage of the Asian Cup.
The women's team sent Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, Chen Xintong, Kuai Man, and Shi Xunyao. The head coach of the women's team, Ma Lin, said that Chen Meng has withdrawn from the world ranking system, and the team communicated with her, and she will not participate in international competitions for the time being. This lineup was almost anticipated by netizens, but what was unexpected was that Shi Xunyao replaced Qian Tianyi, possibly because Qian Tianyi's recent performance on the court was not good enough.
This list directly aroused the dissatisfaction of fans, who demanded explanations in the comment section. Looking back at what Liu Guoliang said before, it seems to have become a joke.