China’s reigning Olympic champion paddler Fan Zhendong will miss the upcoming World Team Table Tennis Championships due to personal reasons, as Team China’s men’s squad braces itself for a tougher-than-usual challenge in London.

With men’s and women’s world No 1s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha leading the charge, the Chinese Table Tennis Association announced a strong roster for the 2026 WTTTC on Wednesday, aiming to retain both team titles, while putting younger talent through their paces for future major events.

The biennial team championships, last held in 2024 in Busan, South Korea, will be staged across two venues in the English capital — the Copper Box Arena and the OVO Arena Wembley — from April 28 to May 10.

A notable absentee of the Chinese men’s squad is three-time Olympic champion Fan, who while directly eligible for the championships as men’s individual champion at last year’s Chinese National Games, as per the CTTA’s selection guideline, has willingly decided to skip the London showdown.

The association had proactively consulted with Fan regarding his participation in the team championships, and the player stated that he “voluntarily withdrew from the event” due to personal reasons, according to a CTTA statement.

Fan was a key member of the Chinese men’s gold medal-winning teams at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and won his first individual Olympic gold by beating Sweden’s Truls Moregard in Paris.

He is currently plying his trade in Europe, having recently signed with German Bundesliga giant Borussia Dusseldorf for the 2026-27 season after completing a one-year stint with another German club, 1. FC Saarbrucken.

Even without veteran Fan, Team China remains the strongest contender for both team titles in London, with reigning men’s and women’s individual world champions Wang and Sun — both in red-hot form — being joined by a group of world-class teammates, including men’s world No 5 Lin Shidong and women’s world No 2 Wang Manyu.

China’s head coach Qin Zhijian, however, warned of tougher competition on the men’s side, due to a relative lack of depth in the roster.

“Since the Paris Olympics, the men’s team has entered a phase of transition between veteran and young players, and competition from foreign associations has grown even fiercer,” said Qin.

“Although the men’s team faces greater pressure than the women’s team in terms of overall squad depth and the competitiveness of their opponents, I am confident that through collective hard work and active preparation, the men’s team will be able to fulfill its task at this team competition, strive for victory and fight for the championship.

“In terms of overall strength, world rankings and age structure, the five female players selected are the strongest. So, as they head into the London championships, I hope they will perform at their best and go all out for victory.”