I think that the reason is that they have too many competitions overall, leaving not enough time to train and recover. In Europe they have national leagues and Champion's League, from which they cannot withdraw as they pay their bills. They also have highly sought annual Euro Championships, major tournaments like Top 16, Grand Finals, World Cup, not accounting for the Worlds this season. Also the World tour. Not a surprise that these guys sacrifice something to practice, recover (especially being injured) and prepare to fight for the major titles.
I totally agree with this. Check a brief list of all the competitions they are taking place nowadays:
- ITTF World Tour (6 platinum events + 6 World Tour Events + 12 Challenger): they usually play between 6 and 12 of these
- ITTF Grand Finals (once a year): only for the top players of the circuit
- National Leagues: around 18 - 20 team matches
- National Cup: in the German League, from 1 to 5 team matches
- Champions League / ETTU: from 6 to 11 team matches
- ETTU Top 16: only for the top 16 players
- ITTF World Cup (every year, from 1 to 6 singles matches)
- ETTU European Championships Team Qualification: from 4 to 6 team matches
- European Championships (Singles and teams, every year)
- World Championships (Singles and Teams, every year each)
- Euro-Asia Challenge (ok, most of an exhibition, 2-3 singles matches)
- T2-APAC (to be determined)
- European Games (every 4 years)
- Olympic Games Qualification (every 4 years)
- Olympic Games (every 4 years)
The top players are playing MOST of them... imagine adding flights in between, national team meetings, and.. vacation?
Considering the amount of money they can make in ITTF Competitions (check
this article) and the salary they get from their clubs (which probably make them play all club competitions), apart from the National Team "mandatory" attendance.. I guess that National Championships are probably the most convenient competition to skip.
Reading the list again.. I'm surprised that injuries doesn't come more often..