Chinese Olympic table tennis champions Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng on Friday announced they were quitting the WTT World Tour, refusing to pay fines for not participating in tournaments.
Fan posted on social media site Weibo he could not “afford” to pay fines under new participation rules and would “withdraw from the world rankings”.
“I am still me, I won’t retire, I will continue to work hard to participate in more different competitions,” added the three-time Olympic gold medallist, who took the singles title in Paris this year.
Fan did not compete in the recent WTT Finals held in Japan in November and has not played in WTT competitions since June.
Chen, Olympic women’s singles champion in Tokyo and Paris, said she would also pull out of the world circuit.
“Because my body is unable to withstand high-intensity competition, out of respect for the international organisation, I signed the form on Monday and made the choice to withdraw from the world ranking,” she said on Weibo.
