On Dec 27, 2024, Chinese table tennis stars Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng said they will withdraw from the world rankings. Fan stated that he is unable to follow the new rule of the World Table Tennis (WTT), which gives players fines (罚款) for not joining its competitions. However, Fan emphasized (强调) that this decision doesn’t mean his retirement (退役) from the sport. Similarly, Chen said that her ongoing physical challenges make it impossible for her to compete in every match.