All Recent News
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Fan Zhendong signs with the Düsseldorf club. Also a one-year contract. Last year was Saarbrücken; the new year will be at Düsseldorf (starting July 1, 2026), the club Boll served for years. Reportedly the plan started last year but did not come off. Clearly, Xiaopang’s friendship with Boll is one of the main reasons. New teammates include Qiu Dang, Kallberg and Jha. Over the past year, Qiu Dang and Jha both improved fast, rising to world 11 and 28. With Fan Zhendong as a high-level sparring partner, soon two penhold figures should appear in the world top ten. Kallberg, nicknamed “European little Ma Long,” may also see a state revival. These few happen to all be Butterfly-signed. Plus Boll’s participation and sampling in Butterfly’s new-product development, this small group greatly benefits Butterfly product testing and promotion. As for this year’s Butterfly new blades, besides the inexplicably released Innerforce Layer ALC penhold, there is the Lim Jonghoon advance. Word says it still comes this year, just in the second half. Some netizens “planned” a new life for Fan Zhendong — like joining a new club each year, experiencing different city life. But Xiaopang probably will not do so. His current moves are more “take it step by step,” leaving himself many unknown possibilities — when there is no answer, keep waiting for the answer, but not anxious at all. On whether Fan Zhendong will return for the London Worlds team event, Chairman Wang Liqin’s answer is “under communication.” Not ruled out, but probably unlikely. A peak-year Grand Slam winner temporarily leaving the team, experiencing life overseas for two years, is a very unique scene in history. This is the era’s progress, and a “fold” of a specific period, mirroring the complex relationship among the national team, fandom and the player’s own pursuits. Though as true fans we also hope to see Xiaopang’s grace at international events, things being so, let us broaden our view and keep embracing and enjoying his wonderful Bundesliga showings. As for the LA Olympics — without distant worries there are near sorrows; why think that far?
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In the in-team selection, Zhou Qihao won out, earning a London Worlds team berth. Barring accidents, he will become a new world champion. In past Super League policy, that means “raise the pay” — a world champion’s salary differs. The 29-year-old Fan Zhendong has a hint of retiring at his peak, feeling new life overseas, while the 29-year-old Zhou Qihao keeps battling at home. Each person is at a different stage, with their own goals and brilliance. For example, the just-married Qian Tianyi already left the national team, and days ago strolled a park. Seeing the lively old folks, she sighed in a video: “I suggest young people go to parks less — easy to hurt your self-esteem.”
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The ITTF Doubles World Cup will be held in 2027. This is from the ITTF, not WTT — which at least proves its value. (WTT Xinxiang World Cup men’s singles champion, ITTF Macau World Cup men’s singles final four Wang Chuqin rolls his eyes at you.) This event includes men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Some media criticized it: the ITTF’s new move is to raise attention. Even so, though it includes mixed doubles, the bigwigs may not be keen. Besides, with so many events now, “overdraft” is no exaggeration. This Doubles World Cup also reminds gear nerds of last year’s Doha Worlds men’s doubles champions Hiroto Shinozuka/Shunsuke Togami — an honor worth a year’s promotion, yet Butterfly fobbed them off with only a commemorative T-shirt. This treatment is worlds apart from Maharu Yoshimura’s. By the time they win another World Cup or Worlds doubles title, with reason to release a limited blade, it is probably a parallel-universe affair.