(Reuters) – China’s Olympic champion Fan Zhendong said on Sunday he had not been officially informed in advance that he would be subject to fines that the World Table Tennis (WTT) has levied against him over tournaments he missed in recent months.
His comments contradicted a WTT statement the day before that the rules on tournament play had long been in place.
Fan, who won both the men’s singles and men’s team gold medals at the Paris Olympics this year, said on Friday he could not afford to pay the fines imposed on players for skipping WTT-sanctioned tournaments.
Both Fan and women’s singles and team Olympic champion Chen Meng announced on Friday that they would be pulling out of the circuit and withdrawing from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings.
In a statement on Saturday, the WTT said the rules were “consistent, not new”.
“We deeply respect the contributions of Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng, two icons who have inspired countless fans and athletes worldwide,” it said.
“These regulations, which include automatic entry for players ranked in the global standings, have been in place since WTT’s inception four years ago.”
The WTT statement sparked a backlash among Chinese fans on the social media platform Weibo.
In a post on Weibo on Sunday, Fan said he had been told the rule would come into effect from 2025.
“I am not sure when the relevant content of punishing non-participating players first appeared, but I am sure that I have never been officially informed that I will be fined for withdrawing from the competition,” the 27-year-old wrote.
“I received the official notice last week, saying that WTT will strictly implement the latest penalty regulations starting next year.
“I received the document on Monday this week and signed and submitted it on the same day.”
The ITTF, the sport’s governing body which created the WTT in 2019, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Fan did not compete in the WTT Finals in Japan in November and last played a WTT competition in June.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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