Fans want Fan Zhendong rushed back into China table tennis team after perfect showing
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At the opening leg of the new China Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) season, which concluded in Hebei on Wednesday, Fan won all seven of his men's singles ties, including beating world No 1 Lin Shidong 3-2.
A Weibo hashtag praising Fan – who does not have a world ranking – for beating the men's top player subsequently went viral.
'10 months without international appearances and six [months] without any matches, yet still could beat the world No 1, Fan is still the King,' one commentator said.
Another commentator said: 'No matches in 160 days, who knows how much effort he put in to maintain this level of competitiveness.'
Other comments included one saying 'The national team needed Fan' and 'It was a great loss for the table tennis world' to not have Fan playing in international competitions.
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