Last weekend, two veteran coaches of the Chinese national table tennis team, Wu Jingping and Yin Xiao (also known as Yin Xiao), engaged in a public exchange of views, sparking a huge debate with several Olympic champion athletes expressing their support or approval through statements and likes, causing a stir in public opinion. The central figure of the incident, Liu Guoliang, Chairman of the World Table Tennis (WTT) and President of the China Table Tennis Association, chose to remain silent amidst the controversy. Analysts pointed out that this event has exposed the fact that Chinese table tennis is no longer an invincible force.
Former national team coaches Wu Jingping and Yin Xiao published differing perspectives on social media, focusing on the commercial operation of WTT (World Table Tennis Professional League) and the current situation of the Chinese men’s team. Wu Jingping criticized the commercialization trend of WTT, believing it could affect the development of the Chinese national team, while Yin Xiao defended WTT’s reforms, emphasizing their reasonableness and necessity.
As Yin Xiao is a mentor to Liu Guoliang, this public dispute has led to speculation about Liu Guoliang’s position. Currently, both Wu Jingping and Yin Xiao have deleted their controversial articles.
Independent sports commentary media “Sports Industry Independent Review” posted an article on February 17th, stating that after the Chinese New Year, WTT announced a series of reform measures, including eliminating the mandatory participation requirement for WTT Grand Slam events, granting wildcards to Olympic champions, increasing prize money, and upgrading the competition format.
In response, Wu Jingping posted a “short essay” on social media directly targeting WTT. He bluntly stated, “When ‘national ball’ is exploited by capital for commercial competition, it has already lost its original essence,” and criticized the situation of the men’s team, which led to the retirement of the newly crowned Olympic singles champion, Fan Zhendong.
He also accused WTT of using “bullying clauses to exploit athletes worldwide for its own commercial profits,” criticized the reform as biased and unfair to Olympic champions, among other points.
This article has put WTT, which was already in a precarious position, in a more awkward situation.
Yin Xiao subsequently released a “short essay” responding to Wu Jingping’s remarks, stating that the claim of the Chinese table tennis team coercing capital to force out Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng is “unfounded and even distorts the truth.” He also emphasized that WTT is also undergoing reforms and improvements, and the system of rewards and penalties complies with the rules of professional sports operation.
It is worth noting that Ma Lin and Wang Hao, two Olympic champion coaches in the Chinese national team, liked Yin Xiao’s Weibo post, while Zhang Jike voiced his support for Wu Jingping, and Chen Qi did not clearly take a side, calling for a rational discussion.
Subsequently, both Wu Jingping and Yin Xiao deleted their respective “short essays,” but the conflict has already become public.
Liu Guoliang has yet to respond to the above events. Liu Guoliang is the Chairman of the China Table Tennis Association, Chairman of the World Table Tennis Professional League (WTT), and Vice President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Not long ago, mainland sports media figure He Xiaolong stated that Liu Guoliang has lost control over the China Table Tennis Association and the ITTF. He Xiaolong’s comments have drawn widespread attention, but Liu Guoliang himself has not publicly responded to this claim. This information has not been officially confirmed.
The views on WTT held by the two aforementioned coaches are diametrically opposed. This online “clash” reflects a worrying underlying issue. The once-unified Chinese national team can no longer be considered a monolith, as this incident has exposed a crack that confirms the team is no longer unshakeable. Under a commercialized competition system, interests have shifted, and everyone is no longer entirely in the same trench. Where there are interests at stake, conflicts are bound to arise. This is likely one of the underlying causes.
The article suggests that WTT’s reform path still needs to take bigger steps to truly prioritize the players.