On July 8, local time, a sad news came from the world table tennis world, that is, the 45-year-old Belarusian world champion Samsonov has officially announced his retirement, and his legendary career has finally come to an end.
As a fierce opponent of national table tennis who has defeated Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, Ma Long and others, Samsonov has conquered countless Chinese fans with his superb technology and noble virtues, and is respected by everyone as a "gentleman in the table tennis world". Now his retirement marks the retirement of all the singles world champions of the 90s, and a great era has come to an end!
Born in 1976, Samsonov is a very familiar table tennis player, he began to compete in the World Series in 1993, until 2020 he was still active in the front line of the stadium, won 3 World Cup singles championships, defeated several generations of core players of the Chinese team, and even pulled Lin Gaoyuan off the horse last year.
However, as he grew older, Lao Sa's physical condition also deteriorated, and this year he withdrew from the Olympic Qualification Tournament and the European Championships due to injury, and almost lost the Tokyo Olympic Games. But even though he later won the tickets, he did not last, and then announced on July 6 that he would give up the competition, and it was not long before he officially decided to retire from the active duty.
For Lao Sa's decision, many fans and friends have expressed their understanding while feeling regretful, after all, most of the peers who fought with Samsonov have bid farewell to the field, not to mention Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, that is, Ma Long, who is 12 years younger than Lao Sa, has also come to the brink of retirement, let alone him?
In 2020, Samsonov has been elected vice president of the European Table Tennis Association, completing a major change of status, so he may continue to work in this field in the future and continue to make his own contribution to promoting the development of table tennis.
I think in the 90s, the competition in table tennis was fierce! Waldner, Persen, Gaiting, Primorats, Ma Wenge, Kong Linghui, Liu Guoliang, Samsonov and others have won the singles world championship, and Sever, Kim Zesu, Kerber and others who did not win the gold medal are also quite strong, which is really a group of heroes and wonderful!
Now, with the retirement of Lao Sa, that era has finally become history completely, so will we still have the opportunity to see such a blossoming table tennis in the future? Let's wait and see: bless you, Old Sa!