Why don't the top chinese players play in star contenders anymore?

[Walalang]

I just keep noticing that ever since last season (2024), top chinese players like Ma long, Fan zhendong, Wang chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Shidong weren't participating in star contenders. Last star contender they participated in was doha 2024. I just wanted to know why since in my opinion, playing star contenders can really help them right now considering CNT Men's team current state.

 

[zeio]

Because Tony's Table Tennis complains too much...

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I just keep noticing that ever since last season (2024), top chinese players like Ma long, Fan zhendong, Wang chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Shidong weren't participating in star contenders. Last star contender they participated in was doha 2024. I just wanted to know why since in my opinion, playing star contenders can really help them right now considering CNT Men's team current state.

The main players have 6 champions and 4 smash
national champs/games
asian champs/team champ/cup
ITTF wttc/wtttc x 1
world cups x 2
finals

12 months for 18 events and more if you factor in CSL and WTTC closed training.

scheduling/no time is the reason. Makes no sense to play star contender.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

why ask the NBA Lakers to play in collegiate events?

 

[driversbeat]

Winning star contender lands you 600 points. Smash semifinals lands you 700 points which is doable for most core CNT players. Champions on the other hand is much harder to score points with but I don't think they are hurting for the difference.

 

[zeio]

The real reason is that there were not enough high-tier tournaments before 2024. 2025 is the first year with a full calendar.

2024 was an Olympic year and every thing CNT did before then was to secure seeding.

2025
GS 2000 - 4 (Singapore, United States, Europe, China)
CS 1000 - 6 (Chongqing, Incheon, Yokohama, Macao, Montpellier, Frankfurt)
SCT 600 - 6 (Doha, Chennai, Ljubljana, Foz do Iguaçu, London, Muscat)
CT 400 - 8 (Muscat, Taiyuan, Tunis, Skopje, Zagreb, Lagos, Buenos Aires, Almaty)
Top 50 CNT as of WK39
1 SCT - ZQH, XF
2 SCT - XP, CYY, HYZ

2024
GS 2000 - 3 (Singapore, Saudi, China)
CS 1000 - 5 (Incheon, Chongqing, Macao, Montpellier, Frankfurt)
SCT 600 - 4 (Doha, Goa, Ljubljana, Bangkok)
CT 400 - 10 (Doha, Rio de Janeiro, Taiyuan, Mendoza, Zagreb, Lagos, Tunis, Lima, Almaty, Muscat)
Top 50 CNT
1 SCT - FZD, WCQ, ML, LJK, LSD, ZQH
2 SCT - LGY

2023
GS 2000 - 1 (Singapore)
CS 1000 - 3 (Xinxiang, Macao, Frankfurt)
SCT 600 - 4 (Goa, Bangkok, Ljubliana, Lanzhou)
CT 400 - 12 (Durban, Doha, Amman, Lagos, Tunis, Zagreb, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Almaty, Muscat, Antalya, Taiyuan)
Top 50 CNT
2 SCT - FZD, WCQ, ML
3 SCT - LJK, LGY, LSD, XP, YLC
4 SCT - ZQH, XYB

Men's Singles
2025 Week #39 - September 23rd
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025_39_SEN_MS.html
Men's Singles
2025 Week #1 - December 31st
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2025_1_SEN_MS.html
Men's Singles
2024 Week #52 - December 24th
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024_52_SEN_MS.html
Men's Singles
2024 Week #1 - January 02nd
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_1_SEN_MS.html

2023/10/5
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-star-contender-lanzhou-2023.32040/post-426173

The main issue is the PDR. Another is holding a Grand Smash as a Star Contender in China. LOL The Star Contender and Contender are not by design to host this level of competition.

http://mytabletennis.net/Forum/foru...wtt-star-contender-lanzhou-2023-10-28#1145278

 

[I Love Anders Lind]

the difficulty of star contenders isnt proportional to the points on offer ig?

 

[I Love Anders Lind]

the difficulty of star contenders isnt proportional to the points on offer ig?

600 pts is low considering the calibre of players there

prize money is crappy compared to league play as well. why bother unless u desperately need points/its in ur home country?

 

[vvk1]

I just keep noticing that ever since last season (2024), top chinese players like Ma long, Fan zhendong, Wang chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Shidong weren't participating in star contenders. Last star contender they participated in was doha 2024. I just wanted to know why since in my opinion, playing star contenders can really help them right now considering CNT Men's team current state.

ML and FZD have retired moons ago, lol.

 

[Walalang]

well, a few of the top chinese players aside from the likes of Wang Chuqin are gonna play in the upcoming star contender doha 2026 and contender muscat 2026. From what I remember, the chinese players inside of the top 15 that will play in those are Lin Shidong, Liang Jingkun and Xiang Peng

 

[NextLevel]

well, a few of the top chinese players aside from the likes of Wang Chuqin are gonna play in the upcoming star contender doha 2026 and contender muscat 2026. From what I remember, the chinese players inside of the top 15 that will play in those are Lin Shidong, Liang Jingkun and Xiang Peng

Lin Shidong's last loss to Harimoto was likely upsetting. I got the impression that they expected the work LSD had done since they last played to yield a significantly different result.

Liang and Xiang Peng still need points.

Of course with the CNT, everything is subject to change with results, injuries and acceptance fees.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Because at the inception of WTT there wasn't a full schedule of Champions and Grand Smash events, now there are. With those 6+4 events and the other majors like Asia continental, world cup, world champs, mixed team WC etc they have enough on their plate alongside CSL.

 

[zeio]

林诗栋梁靖崑竟然都要去常挑了 (LSD and LJK are going to CT)
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10315477467
MiNiMiJi 他俩去年新加坡冠亚巨分 今年偏偏亚洲杯提前了 新加坡推后了……新加坡一清分 亚洲杯几个人要消消乐了……当然还有一个可能是真的要磨筐k男双 顺便刷个男单分 因为常挑球挑其实刷分的性价比很低……但是可以练双打
IP属地:湖南来自iPhone客户端4楼2025-12-19 15:16回复
(They have huge points as Singapore [Smash] winner and finalist from last year. Yet for this year [2026], the Asian Cup has been moved up, and Singapore has been postponed... Once Singapore points expire, the few of them are going to run into each other in the Asian Cup... Of course, another possibility is that they really want to grind for points in MD and also rack up some points in MS. Because CTs and SCTs actually have a low performance/cost ratio for racking up points... but it can be used to practice doubles)