ZJK: Screw You, ITTF!

I don't think the issue is about whether he can defeat his opponent. It's the principle. As a sports governing body, once the drawing is done. There's no excuse to change it. The fact that it changed 3 times is unacceptable.

vvk1 said:

Come on, grow up. ZJK just chickened out when faced with YA.

I play a lot of local tournaments here in UK. Draws change at the last moment all the time. It is a fact of life for anyone regularly playing tournaments, not a conspiracy. Cannot even imagine throwing up a hissy fit and leaving the tournament because the draw changed (and sometimes it changes such that you end up going from being the lowest rated player in a higher group to being the top seed in the next lower group !).

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This is not some local amateur tournament. Draws are done once and thats it.

drunix80 said:

This is not some local amateur tournament. Draws are done once and thats it.

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I still don't understand why they changed the draw in the first place.,

Many might not remember this but in Korean open qualifications, only ZJK, YA and LJK out of all players were supposed to play an additional qual round to get to mains. And then they changed the draw a couple of times. It was fishy all the way.

zeio said:

I was wondering why no one talked about it.

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In ITTF they know they cannot do much to harm ZJK that's why. You dont punish hard legendary players, if you do so your product gets either divided or less profitable. Also you provoke boycotss

Other players cannot do the same, its not a viable option for them. If you are no 50 or no100 no one will care if you protest and u will get punished hard.

If a low ranked players gets treated unfairly which is quite normal especially in small non broadcasted events, you wouldnt even bother to read an article about him, not even publishing a video

These things that ZJK describes have probably happened again and in other players also but this time he decided to expose them, that's the difference

vvk1 said:

Come on, grow up. ZJK just chickened out when faced with YA.

I play a lot of local tournaments here in UK. Draws change at the last moment all the time. It is a fact of life for anyone regularly playing tournaments, not a conspiracy. Cannot even imagine throwing up a hissy fit and leaving the tournament because the draw changed (and sometimes it changes such that you end up going from being the lowest rated player in a higher group to being the top seed in the next lower group !).

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Your little local tournament is not the same thing as a major ITTF event. Sorry to have to say.

My guess is that ITTF wants to make things as hard as possible for CNT players because they think that their dominance of the sport is bad in the long run. So they try to put their fingers on the scales here and there when they can. And this time they got called out for doing it by a legendary player towards the end of his career who has nothing to lose and already has reason to be pissed off at them.

I think Chinese dominance certainly can make things a little boring from time to time BUT to do something this Sharara-esque to try to deal with it is horrific. Of course if you just love the sport and don't really care where amazing players come from, then ZJK is one of the most interesting players of all time.

The incompetence and corruption of the top leadership of major international sports federations -- many of them, not just ours -- is a source of endless amazement to me. (The sports I follow most are TT and road cycling to give an idea of my frame of reference, but from my reading others are just as bad. FIFA. NFL in the US, which is not international but still huge).

It is possible because they answer to no-one.

Baal said:

Your little local tournament is not the same thing as a major ITTF event. Sorry to have to say.

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No problem. And, yes, Table Tennis England's 1*,2* and Grand Prix events are small in comparison to an ITTF protour event.

Nevertheless, I stand by what I wrote in my previous posts - draws may change for a variety of reasons at any event, and people insisting they must be set in stone or else there is a grand conspiracy appear blinded by their fanboism and passionate dislike of anything ITTF-related.

I have never heard of a draw being changed at a major professional event AFTER it has been made up. Maybe I am just naive.

Same as how many tournaments vvk has been to in England, now how many Pro Tours, World Tours has ZJK been to.
This is the first time something like this has happened in world tours
I guess only English fans will think its normal, I think something is dodgy too.
how can one change it once, and then say, no we don't want ZJK again LJK
then change it again and then say, no we don't want 3 chinese against 3 non chinese
Who is deciding all this nonsense?

Seems normal to wish for events to be conducted in a fair manner towards all players, ITTF or not ITTF. Don't know what's prompting vvk1 to be a tool here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Zhang jike has told its the first time sth like this happens to him and also happens in table tennis world . Also today wu jing ping and china's coaches supported zhang jike . See the news:

https://sports.sina.cn/others/pingpang/2018-08-11/detail-ihhqtaww9348077.d.html?from=wap

you can use google translation as I did which is complete too .

Wu Jingping pointed out: "At the Korean Open, the team encountered three consecutive changes to their opponents during the qualifying round of the group qualifying, which is very rare in the history of table tennis." Wu jing ping also mentioned that ITTf 's rules are in the way of supporting japan national team . I Think zhang jike has done the best thing to talk loudly about this issue . I guess ittf tries to put every OBSTACLE to stop china but its not the way . China is the only country who respect and care about table tennis more than every country and the reason why we like table tennis or at least I like is CHINA .

Where did the rumor with the Back Injury start?

I think all vvk is trying to say is that although the draw is changed, when you entered the tournament you came with an open mind on who you would play, therefore, even if the draws have been changed which seems quite unfair it shouldn't be a reason to leave the tournament,
I bet this has happened to many players over a long period but they just played on.

Virgil said:

I think all vvk is trying to say is that although the draw is changed, when you entered the tournament you came with an open mind on who you would play, therefore, even if the draws have been changed which seems quite unfair it shouldn't be a reason to leave the tournament,
I bet this has happened to many players over a long period but they just played on.

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Well they deliberately rigged the entire draw. There were almost no australian vs australian matches in the prelim rounds, and also professionals study their opponent before a game, and changing the draw does not allow for that. And it seemed like they specifically targeted the chinese and zhang jike, who all had to play for some reason a extra round.

ZhouZhekai said:

Well they deliberately rigged the entire draw. There were almost no australian vs australian matches in the prelim rounds, and also professionals study their opponent before a game, and changing the draw does not allow for that. And it seemed like they specifically targeted the chinese and zhang jike, who all had to play for some reason a extra round.

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We can't say they deliberately did anything because there is no proof about their true intentions,it could have been for a whole different reason and don't forget that for one draw to be changed other players matches will be changes as well so not only Zhang Jike went through this. Also,if you're saying that Zhang Jike needed time to study the players, He has definetely played with and practiced with Yan An and Liang Jingkun before so he definetely knows their playing style so he would only need to study one other player which shouldn't be a big deal

I don't know why you guys are debating on this ... even in a fun neighborhood tournament if the organizers changed the draw people don't take it nicely .. its just about a very basic principle ... YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE DRAW .. that's why its a "DRAW" ... otherwise it would be called a "SETUP" ...

Virgil said:

We can't say they deliberately did anything because there is no proof about their true intentions,it could have been for a whole different reason and don't forget that for one draw to be changed other players matches will be changes as well so not only Zhang Jike went through this. Also,if you're saying that Zhang Jike needed time to study the players, He has definetely played with and practiced with Yan An and Liang Jingkun before so he definetely knows their playing style so he would only need to study one other player which shouldn't be a big deal

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Very true. It isn't nice to feel manipulated in any way.

ttmonster said:

I don't know why you guys are debating on this ... even in a fun neighborhood tournament if the organizers changed the draw people don't take it nicely .. its just about a very basic principle ... YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE DRAW .. that's why its a "DRAW" ... otherwise it would be called a "SETUP" ...

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These guys just insisting in their words cause they cant change it . They have no clue what are they talking about . If they didnt have intention , for sure they wouldnt change the draw . Its so easy to understand . Zhang jike was in a good state and he could win who ever he wants , even if he couldnt win it wasnt nice to be treated like this by ITTF who stole his money be cause of not having fair play Now ITTF is doing more unfairness . ITTF must stand by their rules .

Zhang Jike did say it never happened to him ever before.

Here is the tournament Prospectus
https://d3mjm6zw6cr45s.cloudfront.net/2018/05/2018_WT_7_KOR_PROSPECTUS_2.pdf_0.pdf

Here is world tour platinum directive
https://d3mjm6zw6cr45s.cloudfront.net/2017/11/2018_WT_Directives_FINAL.pdf_0.pdf_1.pdf_2.pdf

I don't see anywhere that it says that group winner will face another group winner in preliminary rounds
imo group winner facing group winners is silly....

Zjk is not complaining that he is facing another Chinese player (group winner) - there is no chickening here.
He is complaining that his "first draw", he faces a Chinese group winner LZK.
next they redraw and he is now facing a non Chinese - in fact group 33, 34 and 35 winners (all chinese) are now facing non Chinese
next they redraw AGAIN, and now faces another Chinese group winner YA

ZJK said, he doesn't fear speaking out about the ridicules unprofessional manner on how ITTF World Tours are conducted
he states, he understands if times change it is acceptable, but he never heard of opponents changes, yet alone it happened 3 times!
I think that is fair coming from an all star.
Maybe if it is an up and coming no body, the no body sure will keep quiet about.
Maybe it has happened before, maybe didn't

also note, its not often you see ZJK in qualifications, but this is a ugly fact that ITTF needs to explain to the world - who decided to change the draw and why?
so I agree, the first draw was a draw. The 2nd and 3rd draw was a setup, because someone wasn't in agreement with the draw!