Hugo Calderano’s historic victory at the World Cup held in Macau opened a situation that few would imagine before Paris games: China goes through a bad time in table tennis.
This Wednesday (23), three days after the conquest of the Brazilian, the announcement of the resignation of Liu Guoliang of the presidency of CTTA (Chinese Association of Table Tennis in English) reinforced this scenario.
Liu, 49, a former prestigious athlete, had been in office since 2018 and had been reelected in 2023, indicating that the exit occurred unexpectedly. In the official speech, he talks about having more time for his family and letting a new leadership have time to prepare the Chinese team for the Los Angeles cycle.
Although it is not possible to nail a link between Calderano’s victory and Liu’s resignation, it is true that the change in China’s table tennis leadership after a series of emblematic drums for the country since Paris-2024, when Wang Chuqin, then number 1, was defeated in the second round.
It’s okay that the defeated opponent was Truls Moregard, who ended the silver medal, but the vexation was big, as the Swedish came from a very bad year, and in the previous seven matches between them, he had lost all – so, of 25 games played, Moregard had only managed to win two.
Some will say that it is the curse of the broken racket. While Wang celebrated the gold medal in the mixed pairs, a photographer stepped on his racket, and since then the tennist table has suffered curious setbacks.
In addition to the early defeat at the Games, last October he was surpassed by Benyamin Faraji, an Iranian athlete little known 14 years. Days earlier, he had lost to Dane Anders Lind and the following month was defeated by Swedish Anton Kallberg. Until then, setbacks for non -Asian were a rarity, and months later he was no longer the leader of the ranking, dethroned by a young man, of course – 19 years old.
The most symbolic of Wang’s unfortunate journey on the individual key at the Olympics is that for the first time in 20 years, China did not double with gold and silver in the sport. Less badly than Fan Zhendong was the champion in Paris, cleaning the bar of the country, but months later the tennist table announced his departure from the WTT circuit in protest against fines for those who refuse to play tournaments from the entity.
Former number 1 in the ranking for a long time, Fan won four editions of the same World Cup won by Calderano on Sunday (20), the first of them in 2016, when he was only 19 years old. The decision to leave international events has generated changes in WTT rules, but today he seems more interested in traveling to Spain to watch Real Madrid games, a team of which he is a passionate fan.
Calderano’s victory in Macau shook the country’s networks, with posts asking for Fan’s return and Lin’s resignation. But the hole is lower, as other great Chinese athletes also left the circuit: Chen Meng, gold in Paris and Tokyo in the female, and Ma Long, considered the largest table tie-seated in history.
The “dictator”, as it became known due to its wide mastery on the table-is the only player to earn two gold in the individual male in games-is 36 years old, and the announcement sounds as a retirement-along with the announcement of Lin’s departure, he also became a Cartola and took over the vice presidency of –CTTA, but just see his recent history to realize something to offer. Last year, he was champion of the World Cup and reached the decision of China Smash, one of the championships equivalent to the Grand Slams of tennis.
In that final, he lost to Lin Shidong, precisely the rival of the title of Calderano in Macao. Current ranking leader is the youngest to reach this position at 19, 9 months and 24 days. With a frightened boy face and a powerful backhand, the new star is the Chinese hope to continue in front of everyone without the recent hesitation. Calderano, however, has shown that there is room to pierce this wide domain.
