Lin Shidong's career has declined like many other Chinese tennis players - Photo: WTT
On the morning of May 3rd (Vietnam time), the Chinese men's table tennis team suffered a shocking 1-3 defeat against South Korea in the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships.
A time of dominance
The World Table Tennis Championships are held in an alternating format: singles and doubles events are held in odd-numbered years, while two team events are held in even-numbered years. Surprises can sometimes happen in the singles and doubles events. But in the team events, China has always dominated absolutely.
In team competitions, teams from Germany, Sweden, Japan, or South Korea can occasionally beat China in matches between their "first-degree" or "second-degree" players. However, the truth is that even China's fifth and sixth-degree players are on par with the "first-degree" and "second-degree" players from other countries. A star player might suddenly decline, but a group of top players cannot. Therefore, China remains the absolute king of team events.
Since 1995, the Chinese men's team has won 13 out of 14 tournaments held, with only one defeat by Sweden, which came back in 2000.
It's surprising that at many times all four top positions in the men's singles world rankings are held by Chinese players. And if you look at the top 20, Chinese players often occupy 7-8 positions. A table tennis team at the World Championships usually consists of 5 players. Even if 1-2 of them are injured, China still easily wins 3-0 against any opponent in the world.
Concerns about a lack of successors.
But that was during its golden age. In the last two years or so, Chinese table tennis has been significantly "diluted." The May rankings of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) mark a historic milestone with only one Chinese player remaining in the top 5 of the men's singles world rankings: Wang Chuqin, who reigns at number 1.
Meanwhile, Lin Shidong dropped to sixth place, and China no longer has any other representatives in the top 10 of the men's singles world rankings. For comparison, the 2020 men's singles table tennis rankings saw five Chinese players in the top 10, and even the top four positions were held by them. Currently, China is feeling the pressure from other powerful table tennis nations like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, France, Germany, and Sweden more acutely than ever.
In the loss to South Korea, Wang Chuqin was absent, and China immediately collapsed. Mainland table tennis fans might console themselves with the fact that this defeat was due to the absence of their number one star. But on the other hand, South Korea also rested their number one star, Jang Woo Jin (world No. 9), in this match.
Because the group stage isn't that important, the strong teams are resting their stars and giving their lower-ranked players (second and third dan) a chance to gain experience. The loss to South Korea shows just how poor the form of the rest of the Chinese players is, except for Wang Chuqin.
Zhou Qihao (ranked 20th in the world) suffered a convincing defeat against his equally ranked opponent, An Jae Hyun (ranked 22nd in the world) from South Korea. And Oh Jun Sung, the 19-year-old South Korean star, defeated both Lin Shidong and Liang Jingkun.
Oh Jun Sung's brilliant performance poses a formidable threat to Chinese table tennis. It seems that young stars from other table tennis nations are progressing faster than their Chinese counterparts of the same age.
Indeed, the top table tennis players in the world right now are mostly young players under 20 years old from Japan (Harimoto, Matsushima), Sweden (Moregard), and France (Lebrun). Meanwhile, China only has Wang Chuqin, at the age of 25, to lead the way. What will happen in 3-4 years if Wang Chuqin doesn't have a worthy successor?
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-ban-khong-con-cua-rieng-trung-quoc-20260504055613651.htm
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