Fan Zhedong falls flat after cinemas sell out; China’s big 5 to skip Asian Championships
Fan Zhendong loses German Cup tie that sold out cinemas across mainland. Olympic trio opt to miss team tournament to manage busy schedules
Olympic champions Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Manyu are among five big names to have made themselves unavailable for the Asian Team Championships in a bid to manage a demanding late-season schedule, China table tennis officials said.
Along with the three Olympians, Chen Xintong and He Zhuojia opted out of the qualification process, while Zhou Qihao will not take part in the selection for men’s singles, men’s doubles, or mixed doubles.
The China Table Tennis Association (CTTA) published its criteria for being picked for the tournament in Uzbekistan, which is scheduled to take place in Tashkent from October 19 to 25.
Qin Zhijian, the China coach, said the decision to rest some of the players came because the national team faced “a heavy competition schedule”, with the Asian Games and the Mixed Team World Cup among the tournaments taking place between now and the end of the year.