Timeline Of Protests In China - Everything You Need To Know!

If you haven't already heard the news spiraling around the table tennis world this will amaze you! Yesterday players including Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin withdrew themselves from the on going China Open in support of their beloved coach Liu Guoliang!

liuguoliangmalong2017support.jpg



Timeline of event:

Tuesday 20th June

The Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) announced a reform of the coaching team within the Chinese National Team. Included in this restructure head coach Liu Guoliang was promoted to Vice President of the CTTA.


Thursday 22nd June

The CHINA OPEN commenced! China National Team players Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan were in the main draw.


Friday 23rd June

16:00 World Doubles Champions Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin were knocked out of the doubles by 13 year old wonder kid Tomokazu Harimoto and Yuto Kizukuri.

19:00 A surprise to the world, the China team all post at the exact same time on their Weibo accounts, "At this moment we have no desire to continue fighting , because we miss you, Liu Guoliang."

19:40 Astonishingly Ma Long did not show up for his opening singles match against Yuya Oshima. No one new of Ma Long's whereabouts which led Yuya to have a walk over. The crowd began to erupt chanting Liu Guoliang's name.

20:25 Fan Zhendong followed suit later on in his men's singles match not turning up.

21:10 A pattern began to emerge as Xu Xin did not show up later that evening to face Harimoto. All three players Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin could not be contacted via their mobile phones and left the hotel.

22:00 Liu Guoliang becomes trending in China as he tops the sports category on Social Media #LiuGuoliang

22:30 Players and coaches Weibo posts were removed on social media.

23:00 Chinese Sports Administration release a statement:

Three players and two coaches, who gave up today's match will be dealt with severely.”

The spokesman of the General Administration of Sports made an announcement on 3 CNT players and 2 CNT coaches who did not show up in the matches during the China Open, which led to a very bad social impact. The spokesman said, "the behavior of not showing up for the matches in a major International tournament, is a lack of professionalism and ethics, a lack of interest in national honors, and a lack of respect to the spectators and opponents, which is totally wrong and we firmly oppose and do not support this. We request all the teams and athletes to put patriotism and collectivism as top priority. Ideology and disciplines are as important as athletic performance. The General Administration of Sports has asked CTTA to investigate and deal with the case severely."

Saturday 24th June

10:00 Rumours and various speculations across multiple news sources have been expressing their concern for the players.

20:00 Chinese Table Tennis Association release public apology found here.

Timo Boll responds to Sina Sports journalist on the situation:


List of Chinese National Team members who supported Liu Guoliang on Weibo.

Players: Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Liu Yi, Zhou Yu, Fang Yinchi, Cheng Jingqi, Ma Te, Cui Qinglei, Yu Ziyang, Lü Xiang, Fan Shengpeng, Zhu Linfeng, Zheng Peifeng, Chen Sichang, Zhang Yudong CNT

Coaches: Qin Zhijian, Ma Lin, Wang Hao Province team coach: Chen Qi

Liu Guoliang's family and friends: Liu Guodong (LGL’s brother, head coach of HK team), Wang Nan (ex-CNT*player), Guo Bin (Wang Nan's husband)

This incredible and unprecedented chain of events has rocked the table tennis world. Who knows what will happen next, and what "deal with case severely" actually means for the protesters. We believe Monday there will be another official statement on the situation.

TableTennisDaily users are posting frequently about this matter, keep up to date here.

Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
Photos by: ITTF
Source: ITTF.com
TableTennisDaily
 
Top