USATT has spoken:
𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒈 @ 2024 𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑭 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝑩𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏
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At the 2024 ITTF World Team Championships, USA’s men’s team was poised to advance to the knock out rounds as long as they won at least 2 matches and 2 more games against Kazakhstan. Jishan Liang played against Aidos Kenzhigulov from Kazakhstan in the 3rd match and won 3-1, giving the US a 2-1 lead. However, he was disqualified because one side of his racket was 0.19mm over the thickness limit.
USATT submitted the following 4 points to the ITTF Jury Committee to contest the decision to disqualify Jishan Liang.
Jishan Liang had competed with the same racket for 3 days of competition prior to the disqualification call on day 5. Prior to the test in question, his racket had passed all visual inspections.
The umpires and referees have no time log indicating Jishan Liang was late to turn in his racket prior to his match. Jishan was not informed his racket would be tested after his match because of the time in which he submitted it.
The announcement of the racket failing came after Nikhil had lost to Kirill, despite the test result occurring earlier. This did not give the US Men’s team an opportunity to adjust their play to account for a disqualification.
Jishan’s racket was tested 4-5 times before it was deemed illegal. The necessity for multiple tests raises significant doubts about the reliability and trustworthiness of the testing process itself. Jishan’s racket, which stayed with the umpires and referees overnight, got tested again today and it was within the standard. They also conducted two separate tests and the readings were different