According to foreign media news, table tennis legend Vladimir Samsonov officially announced his retirement, not long ago he just withdrew from the Tokyo Olympic Games due to injury problems, fans think that he will fight for another 3 years to participate in the Paris Olympic Games, but he still chose to retire. Samsonov and Swedish superstar Waldner, Croatian star Primorats and called the table tennis "Three European Tigers", the latter two have long faded out of the field, and now the youngest Samsonov bid farewell to table tennis, but also announced the end of an era.
Born in 1976, Samsonov is a Belarusian table tennis player who began practicing at the age of 6, used to hold the racket with his right hand, his technique is very comprehensive, especially known for his defensive ability, the playing style looks gentle, in fact, the needle is hidden in the cotton, and he is best at creating traps and inducing the opposing players to make mistakes. In the past two or three decades, national table tennis has been dominating the world table tennis world, and athletes from other countries want to snatch gold medals from national table tennis, the difficulty can be imagined, if there is no strong strength, it is impossible to achieve. Especially in the men's singles event, the national table tennis has never lacked superstars at the level of "big devil", and other athletes can only play the role of "reading with the prince" in most cases.
However, Samsonov had the last laugh in the 2009 World Cup men's singles final, when he defeated opponents including the famous Chen Xuan and the current national table tennis captain Ma Long. In fact, as early as 1995, Samsonov, who had just debuted, won the championship, and at the age of 19, he won the Men's Singles Championship of the Swedish Open and began his legendary career. The following year' Italian Open, Samsonov won the title again and successfully entered the ranks of the world's top men's singles players. In the 2001 World Cup, Samsonov won the men's singles title, which was also his first international "three majors" title. In the years since, Samsonov has performed well in different competitions, winning the Australian Open at the age of 40.
Throughout his career, Samsonov has won a total of 27 championships, including 3 World Cup men's singles titles, and his personal achievements are no less than those of national table tennis stars Such as Ma Lin and Wang Hao. It was not until after the 2019 China Open that Samsonov's record of 27 championships in all competitions was surpassed by the national table tennis star Ma Long. In Samsonov's more than 20-year career, he has played against a total of 5 generations of national table tennis players. From the perspective of national table tennis, it is gratifying to show that China's table tennis talents are abundant; but from Samsonov's point of view, it shows that table tennis in other countries is indeed not popular enough, there are very few people willing to choose this road, and his persistence is likely to be out of helplessness, more like a lone hero, worthy of respect.
It is worth mentioning that Samsonov's biggest regret in his career is that he has never won an Olympic medal, and his best result is the 4th place at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, when he lost to Japan's Mizutani Hayabusa in the bronze medal battle. Since then, Samsonov's appearances in the competition have decreased rapidly, especially after winning the Australian Open in 2017, and he has hardly been heard of in the competition. In 2020, Samsonov became vice president of the European Table Tennis Federation, in fact, he is preparing for retirement, if not plagued by injuries, he may end his career in Tokyo, and now he can only say goodbye in advance.