Beijing, 6 Jul (Xinhua) -- The International Table Tennis Federation announced on 6 July that Belarusian male table tennis player Samsonov has decided to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympic Games.
In 1996, Samsonov made his Olympic debut in Atlanta. Since that year, he has represented Belarus at every subsequent Olympic Games, and this year was his seventh Olympic race.
Samsonov returned the ball at the Qatar Open. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Niku)
Samsonov, 45, has been a well-known athlete in table tennis for many years and qualified for the semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After announcing his retirement from the Tokyo Olympics, Samsonov's hopes of winning an Olympic medal will become slim.
After Samsonov's exit, his signing in the men's singles event will be reassigned to the next highest-ranked player who has not yet qualified for the Olympic Competition, Kinkhol from the United Kingdom, which will need to wait for confirmation from the British Olympic Committee.
The Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, and table tennis will be held from July 24 to August 6.
Editors: Liu Yang, Wu Junkuan, Zhang Cang (Intern)