Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng Retire! My thoughts

[@manasg.a.202]

Players are not salaried employees of the WTT. WTT is powered, solely, by the talent and hard work of the players. At the moment, Steve Dainton and his cabal at WTT are treating international Table Tennis as their personal fiefdom, and the players as their serfs. This needs to stop. I hope the players get together and form a union and fight for their rights. Also, it's a shame that hardly anyone batted an eyelid when Quadri Aruna was fined. Thanks a lot for speaking about him! And of course, kudos to both Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong for taking this bold, bold step. They made sure everyone knew what a pathetic bunch those at the top of WTT are. Anyway, it would be a real shame if we never get to see Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng in international events again. While I am at it, might as well say the side camera angle utterly sucks. Rant over.

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

@@manasg.a.202 some pretty fair points there! I like your line that "WTT is powered, solely, by the talent and hard work of the players". It's so true, particularly when it comes to players like Quadri. The man has carried a continent!

[@payanshonim]

I had to stop watching TT when side angle was introduced

[@KrazyKanucker]

In the Chess world, they recently bent the rules to accommodate Magnus Carlson. They should adjust the TT rules. You can't lose the best player FZD.

[@GhanaTableTennis]

You could not have said it any better

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

@@GhanaTableTennis thank you! There's always room for improvement though 😁

[@Roamuopia]

But i think blame has also be put on the ctta for blocking chen meng, fzd, ma long for benefit of ln shidong and wang chuzqin

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

Could be! What goes on behind the scenes within CTTA is a mystery to me

[@ncrean66]

Blocking from ctta is the main reason, of course). Recall that Liu Guoliang is the wtt chairman also.

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

@@ncrean66 interesting. I guess we will just have to wait and see how this all develops

[@dongiovanni8899]

actually for the benefits of other countries' associations to diminish chinese winning rate and also WTT business to attract more participants and viewers from other countries😁

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

@dongiovanni8899 maybe there's some silver linings from this. However, I think this is not the end of the story!

[@krissalkond]

I wonder how much of their retire reasons are from the ghoulish training regiment that is forced on them.

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

Yup, professional sports are pretty brutal and I imagine some players just want a break (hopefully without getting fined!)

[@krissalkond]

@@TableTenniswithAsh Some people have even suggested bullying.

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

@@krissalkond interesting. I hope that's not the case

[@dongiovanni8899]

They don't mind ranking points deductions but don't agree with money fines.

[@mrmr1964]

That's OK, Chinese Super League, German League, and probably the UK or French League will be beneficiaries of FZD playing for money, and good on him.

[@TableTenniswithAsh]

The power of the leagues could grow out of this. Yup, all the best to FZD

[@dongiovanni8899]

Lin Gaoyuan recently joined a German club in the league