Samsonov, a Belarusian veteran who announced his retirement from the Tokyo Olympic Games on the 6th, announced his retirement yesterday. Six times in the Olympic Games, the best result of the fourth place, with the regret of not being able to reach the Olympic podium, the 45-year-old Old Sa ended his career.
At the beginning of June, Samsonov qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with the rankings, and the 45-year-old will embark on his seventh career olympic journey. On July 6, he announced his withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics for physical reasons, and Britain's Kinkhol came off the bench. He had not previously competed in the European Championships. Since entering the professional table tennis scene in 1995, Samsonov has been with five generations of national table tennis, and is affectionately known as Lao Sa. Lao Sa holds three World Cup men's singles titles and 27 ITTF Tour titles. He won the Fair Play Award from the International Olympic Committee in 2005 and was elected Vice-President of the European Table Tennis Federation in 2020. Prior to that, he was also chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation Athletes' Committee for 7 years.
Author: Su Yahui
Source: Tianjin Daily
![The gentleman of table tennis, Samsonov[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)