On March 22, Beijing time, the International Table Tennis Federation officially announced that the WTT Doha Star Challenge will be played on March 25, originally, all the main forces of the national table tennis signed up to participate, but now, the main force of the national table tennis has all withdrawn! In this regard, Qin Zhijian gave an explanation. Suddenly, the event became starless and there were no superstars. The highest-ranking player in the men's singles is Hugo Calderano, and the highest-ranked player in the women's singles is Du Kaixuan.
In this competition, in the previous registration list, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Sun Yingsha, Liu Shiwen and others were listed.
Now, the ITTF has announced, "Calderano and Du Kaixuan lead the WTT Doha Star Challenge, and the Chinese team only sends young players to participate!" ”
Qin Zhijian, secretary general of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, gave an explanation - the Singapore Grand Slam tournament is high in intensity and fierce in confrontation, the national table tennis has been exercised, and has also achieved good results, got points, and many of the main players have experienced a huge consumption after an intensive schedule, and they have expressed their willingness to rest! In order to avoid injuries, the national table tennis decided that the absolute main force participating in the Singapore competition and the Olympic champion would return directly to China to recuperate and meet the subsequent events with better mental and technical conditions.
Matthew Pound, managing director of the WTT World Table Tennis Federation, expressed understanding and believes that the main players of the national table tennis can give other players more opportunities if they do not participate!
But objectively speaking, the attention of this event has dropped in an instant. Of course, many of the main players of national table tennis do need to rest, such as Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, who are both multi-tasking, especially Sun Yingsha, who is also three.
But some fans believe that players like Liu Shiwen, who left early in Singapore, should go to Doha to continue to compete. Today, all the main players of national table tennis have withdrawn from the competition.
Specific withdrawals of national table tennis:
Men's team: Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Lin Shidong, Wang Chuqin, Xiang Peng, Xu Haidong.
Women's team: Chen Meng, Chen Xingtong, He Zhuojia, Ku Man, Liu Shiwen, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi.