China table tennis team out of WTT Middle East hub over Covid-19 concerns
- ‘Disappointing but understandable’, World Table Tennis says of decision ahead of China hosting next hub event in April
- Hong Kong were accused of using coronavirus as an ‘excuse’ when they pulled out of same tournament in January
“Team China’s withdrawal from the Middle East Hub is disappointing but understandable under the circumstances the Chinese Table Tennis Association have outlined,” Stephen Duckitt, Event Strategy Director of WTT said in a brief statement from the International Table Tennis Federation on Monday.
“Despite the continuing challenge of the pandemic, we are ready to deliver the first official WTT events in Doha and we continue to work closely with the Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) and local authorities to ensure the safety of everyone involved.”
Qin Zhijian, secretary general of the CTTA and head coach of the Chinese men’s team, expressed his regret that China would no longer participate at the upcoming tournament which will take place in the Qatari capital from March 3-13.
“We will not be able to send table tennis players to play outside China until the Olympic Games due to the ongoing pandemic situation worldwide,” said Qin, looking toward the delayed Tokyo 2020 tournament this summer.
“We have been putting in full effort to make it happen because we truly wish to participate in and show support to the first ever WTT event, but now sadly we need to cancel our participation to WTT Middle East Hub.”
Hong Kong withdraws from WTT Doha events over health fears
Team China will continue to base themselves in Hainan for training and prepare the second WTT event expected to take place in the mainland in April.
President of the CTTA, Liu Guoliang is also chair of the WTT Council.
The WTT was set up by the ITTF in 2019, a milestone in the professionalisation reforms of the sport, to modernise its commercial business activities and realise the full potential of table tennis to compete and excel among the highest-profile sports in the world.
China’s withdrawal from the tournament also means the absence of several world leading players from Doha, including men’s world number two Xu Xin and women’s world number two, Sun Yingsha, who won the WTT promotional showcase in Macau in November.
Earlier, Hong Kong also had the same health concerns and decided not to send any player to the inaugural event, which features a WTT Contender (Mar 3-6) and a Star Contender (Mar 8-13).
However, they were accused by the world governing body of using coronavirus as an “excuse” for their decision not to travel.
