Angry Chinese table tennis superfans threaten Paris Olympics protest over squad selection

Their efforts to be heard have brought them into conflict with China’s censors and turned the campaign into what one member called “a social justice movement”. It has also shed light on levels of fan devotion that the government has termed “deformed”.

Members told the Post that fans at the Games were likely to hold up banners and distribute fliers as part of a continuing campaign against the decision of the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) to leave out world No 2 Wang Manyu.

A group of Chinese table tennis superfans have threatened to protest at the Paris Olympics over the decision not to pick one of the country’s best players – after saying authorities had silenced them at home.

Supporters of Wang said Chinese authorities had moved to shut down their discussions, after they claimed the 2023 Asian champion’s omission from the women’s singles team showed the selection process was unfair.

“Given how the CTTA and [government agency] the General Administration of Sport of China handled this matter, I am sure there will be protests in Paris,” Huang Jiaxin* said. “There are fans based in Paris who are working to advocate for Wang.”

China has chosen Sun Yingsha (back) to play in the women’s singles, but not Wang Manyu (front). Photo: Xinhua

Huang said protesting at the Olympics could make their point by disrupting China’s broadcast of the event.

“People [in the group] were saying that the BBC, other media, would be very interested if there was protesting at the Olympics,” she said.

“How are they [China] going to broadcast the matches if there are banners in the stadium? And they [foreign media] don’t have censors so they can ask whatever questions they want.”

On May 14, China selected world No 1 Sun Yingsha and defending Olympic champion Chen Meng for the women’s singles competition at the Paris Olympics. Wang was included in the women’s team roster.

In China, athletes are selected based on points earned for performances at major competitions and their track record against foreign players, among other criteria.

Fans highlighted Wang’s eight championship titles during the Olympic qualifying window, compared with Chen’s two.

However, Chen gained more points than Wang over the qualifying period, with victories over Sun and three Japanese players on her way to winning the Saudi Smash being a contributing factor.

Following the announcement that Wang would not be competing in singles, Huang was one of thousands to sign a 10,000-word petition to China’s sports administration outlining five ways the selection criteria could be improved.

Huang said she joined hundreds more in spamming the CTTA and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) with lobbying emails and telephone calls.

Other fans broadcast clips of Wang’s career highlights, with text about her non-selection, on screens in Chinese shopping malls that allow patrons to send in their videos.

They bought ad space in New York’s Times Square to show the video there, too.

The group have also spouted unsubstantiated accusations of Chen benefiting from favouritism from head coach Ma Lin and lying about her age to make the team.

Zhang Lina* is a lawyer in mainland China and joined the movement by writing letters asking for an explanation of how Chen was chosen over Wang, a decision she called “ridiculous”.

“We are trying to get a response from the government,” Zhang said. “In China, player lists for the Olympic Games have to be approved by the government … but we believe there is something wrong with the approval process.

“So we have asked the government to provide us with the relevant documents.”

Zhang said she received a response from the sports administration saying it would not release the documents to the more than 200 fans who requested them.

On May 15, the sports administration declared in a press release that “deformed fan culture” should be resisted and that similar incidents in recent years had negatively affected athletes.

“In China, we have been censored so heavily,” Huang said. “People started reacting [to Wang’s omission] on social media. It was the top trending topic on Weibo and Xiaohongshu. But it started getting censored.”

The Post saw that some hashtags debating why Wang should be picked over Chen were removed from Chinese social media platforms.

A post by the ITTF announcing the team on Weibo appears to be censored. On the platform, comments were positive and congratulated those chosen, but the same post on the federation’s Instagram had hundreds of comments in English and Chinese calling for Wang to be included.

On Chinese social media, posts can be censored for several reasons, including discriminatory language, false accusations, vulgar or pornographic content, or anything that could be deemed critical of the Communist Party.

Huang said fans would previously discuss what concerted action they should take in WeChat groups with hundreds of members, but these were shut down. Now, they rely on social media posts to spread the message before they, too, are taken down.

Wang Manyu (far left) has lost out to Chen Meng (second right) and Sun Yingsha (far right). Photo: Xinhua

“Initially, it was just people venting online, but when you censor them, they have no option but to go offline, and the more you silence them, the more angry they become,” Huang said.

“It’s now become a social justice movement. It’s no longer about the sport itself; it’s about disappointment in the government and the country.”

Chinese sports fans’ behaviour has caused conflict with officials and even their idols.

Last November, the Chinese Olympic Committee and sports administration issued a joint statement about harassing of athletes.

During the China Badminton Masters that month in Shenzhen, Japanese player Chiharu Shida was followed back to her hotel by Chinese fans.

Chinese table tennis star Wang Chuqin and basketball player Yang Shuyu have previously spoken out after fans followed them through airports and filmed them.

Also in November, Chinese diving prodigy Quan Hongchan was left shocked when her fans berated judges at the national championships, where the 16-year-old finished second.

*Names changed to protect the identity of those interviewed

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