Chinese Walkout Exposes Turmoil

(ATR) The International Table Tennis Federation demands answers after three top Chinese athletes walked out of a World Tour stop in Chengdu, China.

Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin all forfeited their Round of 16 matches during the China Open on June 23 by not appearing for their matches. The trio is the top three ranked men’s single players in the world.

Following the incident the ITTF released a statement saying the stunt has "damaged the image and the integrity of table tennis globally." The federation has called for a "detailed report from the Chinese Table Tennis Association and also from the ITTF officials on site, The federation also said in a statement it will seek guidance from its Athletes Commission to prevent similar incidents from happening.

After the walkout the three Chinese athletes posted a joint apology on Weibo, the Chinese social network. The official apology stated that the trio "forfeited their matches on impulse without fully understanding the details of," recent changes to the national team coaching structure.

"The occurrence of this incident has exposed the severe problem with the management of our Team," the apology read. "We sincerely accept the criticism from all sectors of society, and apologize to all fans and spectators. The Chinese Table Tennis National Team will learn our lesson, and deeply reflect on the incident.

"The Chinese Table Tennis National Team will use our action and excellent results to repay our country and the public who have been supporting Sports in China and expressing concern and love for the Chinese Table Tennis National Team."

The CTTA released a statement clarifying the management changes the team was undergoing, in an attempt to regain public trust. The CTTA said that after the suspension of the women’s national team head coach Kong Linghui, a restructuring of the entire coaching hierarchy would better suit the team’s development.

"The reform was to remove the positions of Overall Head Coach and the Men’s & Women’s Team Head Coaches, and instead have separate Men’s & Women’s Coaching Team," the statement said.

"After the CTTA proposed the reform of the management of the National Team, the public has given high level of attention to the issue, and gave us many constructive suggestions. We express our gratitude for the passion and concern for the sport of table tennis, and will take these suggestions into consideration, to improve and carry out out tasks at the National Team."

Both statements from the athletes and from the CTTA can be found here.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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