Top players from China’s national team will not participate in the upcoming WTT Star Contender Chennai tournament, prioritizing domestic competitions.

China’s national table tennis team has decided not to participate in the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025, scheduled for March 25. This decision was made to focus on the qualifying tournaments for China’s National Games.

It is worth noting that the Chennai tournament was only added to the WTT calendar in February this year to fill scheduling gaps in the Asian region. The absence of Chinese athletes will not diminish the competitiveness of the event, as it will feature top players from other countries, including Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata, South Korea’s Shin Yubin and Jang Woojin, as well as Brazil’s star player Hugo Calderano.

Meanwhile, China’s main squad, including world-class stars Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, Fan Zhendong, and Chen Meng, will compete in the WTT Chongqing Champions event on March 11. Notably, this tournament will also feature international top players such as the aforementioned Harimoto, Hayata, and Taiwan’s Lin Yun-Ju.

Special attention should be given to recent changes in WTT regulations, where the mandatory participation requirement for all Grand Slams has been abolished. Now players will receive invitations to the remaining three Grand Slams of 2025 and will have two exemptions per year for Champions events. The first test of these new rules will be the WTT Incheon Champions, scheduled for early April.

Photo: XIAOYU TANG/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0