China’s men and women continued their complete dominance of the World Team Table Tennis Championships in London on Sunday, and the former’s easy victory over Japan again raised questions about the future of star Fan Zhendong.
The Olympic champion has not played for his country since winning gold in Paris two years ago, and left the International Table Tennis Federation rankings a few months later.
Although he has been busy playing in Germany and in some domestic tournaments, there has been little sign of a return to the men’s national team and last month Fan said he was skipping the England event “for personal reasons”.
In his absence, world No. 1 Wang Chuqin led teammates Liang Jingkun and Lin Shidong to a 3-0 win to claim their 12th straight title since 2001.
Liang and Lin struggled at times during the gold rush, and Wang felt compelled to defend them later, suggesting the rivalry between the countries was more intense.
“There is no one who can stand up and say with complete confidence, ‘I will win this title’,” said the 26-year-old Jilin native. “Every player has an equal chance, and everyone works very hard to improve and fight for their best results.”
