On February 18, Beijing time, according to the list of participants updated by the official website of the International Table Tennis Federation, the Chinese table tennis team has collectively withdrawn from the Doha station of the WTT Youth Star Challenge, which has aroused strong concern among netizens.
According to reports, the Chinese table tennis team originally planned to send 13 players to participate in the Doha station of the WTT Youth Star Challenge, including 6 male players and 7 female team members, the specific list is as follows: Chen Yuanyu, Huang Youzheng, Liang Guodong, Lin Shidong, Wang Tingyu, Zeng Beixun; Chen Yi, Han Fei'er, Ku Man, Li Yuqi, Qin Yuxuan, Xu Yi, And Zhong Geman. However, not long ago, the International Table Tennis Federation updated the registration list, and the 13 members of the national table tennis team showed that they were "canceling the registration". Therefore, it can be confirmed that the 13 players of the national table tennis have collectively withdrawn from the event. Why the decision to collectively withdraw from the competition may be related to the fact that the current overseas epidemic prevention and control situation has not improved.
The WTT Junior Star Challenge is one of the major events launched by the International Table Tennis Federation in recent years, which is divided into two age groups, U19 and U15, and is also the main stage for table tennis players under the age of 19. In the past two or three years, there have not been many opportunities for the first team of national table tennis to play overseas, let alone the players of the youth team. The lack of experience in international competitions is also reflected in the world junior table tennis championships in the past two years, and both men's and women's teams have been affected to varying degrees. Of course, the national table tennis has always been more cautious about the use of young players, except for a small number of players with superior talent such as Fan Zhendong, who basically will not take the "off-generation training" approach to promote young players like the Japanese team. Therefore, although it is a deep pity that the national table tennis collectively withdrew from the Doha Junior Star Challenge, it will not disrupt the team's training plan, but will make fans look forward to their more brilliant light in the coming days.