China ponder TT rethink after shock Hong Kong defeat

The two Hong Kong players later went on to win the gold medal, the territory’s first in table tennis at the Asian Games.

But Hong Kong’s gold, and mighty China’s exit, has thrown the spotlight on China’s age-old tradition of letting top players travel abroad to seek fame and fortune. According to one Chinese table tennis official, defeat to Hong Kong could prompt a rethink, even if the players let go by China aren’t necessarily the cream of the crop.

“China takes a tolerant attitude towards allowing players that want to continue their professional careers to go abroad and to play international league matches, especially if these players find it impossible to continue their careers in China,” a Chinese team official said on condition of anonymity.

“Chinese players have long been playing abroad, especially in places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan,” the official said.

“Of course, there will be some people that are going to be concerned a lot about this, but the players that are going abroad are not the best players.

“What we would like to see is that these players go abroad and play league matches on the professional level, but don’t represent other nations, on this we support the rules (on residency requirements) of the International Table Tennis Federation,” she said.

Hong Kong’s win followed a decision by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to ban two other mainland imports to Hong Kong — world No.6 women’s player Lin Ling and Zhang Rui — on the eve of the Asian Games.

Tie, herself, was initially banned but reinstated after the OCA certified that she had never played for China’s national squad, but only represented China at the university level.