The Chinese Fan Zhendong during the Olympic Games in Paris, August 9, 2024. Jung Yeon-I/AFP storm in the world of table tennis, in China, where this sport is king. Fans who follow, from January 30 to February 9, the great Smash of Singapore will not see three of the biggest stars: the Chinese Ma Long, Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong. Everyone has already won this meeting at the start of the year, equivalent to a Grand Chelem tournament in tennis, but their absence was confirmed during the participants’ announcement on January 23. The discomfort had appeared a few weeks earlier, on December 27, 2024, when Fan, 27, gold medalist in simple male and teams at the Paris Olympic Games, and winner of Singapore 2022 and 2023 editions, had denounced on the Weibo social network, Chinese equivalent of X, the rules of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) imposing fines on players missing World Table (WTT) competitions, its commercial arm. The player then announced his withdrawal from international rankings. While specifying however that he did not completely stop sport in competition, but only international meetings. A few hours later, Chen Meng, 31, gold medalist in a single female and team at 2024 games, three years after being titled at the Tokyo Olympic Games, published his own notification of withdrawal from international rankings. You have 77.08% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Author : News7
Publish date : 2025-01-30 17:02:46
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