Low level Chinese players at the Thailand Open (Challenge Series) 2018

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One of the smaller events on the ITTF calendar is happening now, the Challenge Series Thailand Open.

There is a large contingent from China attending the event, surprisingly Liu Shiwen is the top seed of Women's Singles, it is uncommon for a Chinese A Team player to compete on the Challenge series. What surprises me more though is the level of the other players from China.

CHN at THA Open.JPG
CHN W at THA Open.JPG

While I'm sure they are strong players in their own right, this is almost unheard of for China to send so many low level players and have so many losses at an international senior event. Altogether there are 10 men and 10 women (including Liu Shiwen). Most will be completely new names for those of us who follow international Table Tennis. Several have lost the first match in their group at the qualification stage, some quite badly. This makes me wonder what the aim is for the CNT, and if we'll see more of the same on the Challenge Series and World Tour going forward. Also why does Liu Shiwen need the points from such an event?

Interested to know the thoughts and insights from the TTD community on this. Follow the 2018 Challenge Series Thailand Open here
 
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One of the smaller events on the ITTF calendar is happening now, the Challenge Series Thailand Open.

There is a large contingent from China attending the event, surprisingly Liu Shiwen is the top seed of Women's Singles, it is uncommon for a Chinese A Team player to compete on the Challenge series. What surprises me more though is the level of the other players from China.

View attachment 16427
View attachment 16428

While I'm sure they are strong players in their own right, this is almost unheard of for China to send so many low level players and have so many losses at an international senior event. Altogether there are 10 men and 10 women (including Liu Shiwen). Most will be completely new names for those of us who follow international Table Tennis. Several have lost the first match in their group at the qualification stage, some quite badly. This makes me wonder what the aim is for the CNT, and if we'll see more of the same on the Challenge Series and World Tour going forward. Also why does Liu Shiwen need the points from such an event?

Interested to know the thoughts and insights from the TTD community on this. Follow the 2018 Challenge Series Thailand Open here

Quite simple. It´s gotta be because of the new ranking system.
This is easy math, since every player needs to attend at eight(!) tournaments at least, but there are only six (!!!) platinum world tour tournaments.

Quite clear that she has got to be playing at least two challenger series tournaments. If she performs bad or gets sick or injured she might even attend to a third challenger series tournament.
 
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Indeed, this is a valid point, thanks for bringing it up. The eight tournaments also include World Championships team and individual, Continental cup/champs/games, and the regular WT events, that's why I was a little surprised Liu Shiwen is present for a Challenge Series event. The article Zeio linked was insightful with information about the different clubs within China. It's certainly a different approach from the nation, and will be interesting to see how things change and whether other countries follow suit. Thanks for your comments.
 
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As explained in this article. Google Translate is your friend.

I am surprised that you quoted this kind of self-media.
Clearly LSW is not aiming for some petty ranking points from the challenge series. She is for her super league club.

LSW already explained the reason that she will play challenge series in the interview during closed training in April and Xinhua news covered that.
http://sports.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0417/c22155-29930487.html
LSW said, "My super league club has this chance for the first time to enter a tournament as a whole. My club wants me to participate as it will be after WTTTTC and we may have a break from CNT. If this opportunity can promote table tennis and help my club running, I will do it. That's my duty."
 
says Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
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Just to annoy you some more, here is another self-media explaining the reason roughly several days before Xinhua.
 
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