The ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated on the matter: “The ITTF is very disappointed that the three best players in the world have forfeited their matches at such a big event. We will be working with our friends at CTTA to investigate this serious matter to work out our course of action. In the meantime, we still have world class players competing in the competition, and it will be a great last two days of the China Open.”

A statement from the Chinese Sports Administration:

http://www.sport.gov.cn/n316/n337/c811984/content.html

“During the 2017 ITTF World Tour China Open in Chengdu, 2 coaches and 3 athletes from the Chinese Table Tennis national team forfeited the competition without permission, resulting in very negative social influences.

The General Administration of Sports of China’s news spokesperson states that, the act of forfeiting without authorisation and leaving without notice during a major international tournament shows no regard for neither the athlete’s ethical code & code of conduct, nor for the interest and glory of the country, it is also disrespectful to the opponent and the spectators. This kind of behaviour is wrong and we are strongly against it.

We require the sports teams & athletes to be always put patriotism & collectivism as the first priority at all times, having a strong ideology, strict discipline and sports level is equally important.

The General Administration of Sports of China has tasked the Chinese Table Tennis Association to investigate the incident and deal with the incident severely.”

More information will be published once it comes to hand.

For media enquiries please contact ITTF’s Head of Communications Matt Pound at [email protected].