The Chinese championship event was expected to spotlight the top two players in the world and China’s top squad in the competition, but an unranked Fan Zhendong stole most of the headlines at the 2025 Chinese National Games in Macau.
Fan’s run in men’s singles was epic. He won his first matches to reach the semi-finals and that was exciting for his fans, but expected. The unexpected part was his 4-2 victory over world champion Wang Chuqin in the semi-finals. And he followed that performance with a 4-1 dominance of world number 2 Lin Shidong. When the final point of the Final was over (with the score 11-4), the celebration was muted as both players shook hands and the fans cheered. Fan Zhendong’s smile then widened as he showed one finger and then two fingers. The gestures reflected what everyone was thinking: what a huge achievement for Zhendong to beat the world number 1 and then the world number 2 in consecutive days and capture one of the biggest titles in the table tennis world in front of a packed house of fans who used to be his.
The best-placed team won in the team event. That is, the Beijing team anchored by Wang Chuqin and Ma Long won (as expected). However, the other headline of the team finals was that Fan Zhendong was also undefeated in matches for his team. And in fact, in the final between Chuqin’s Beijing team and Fan’s Shanghai team, it was another victory for Fan Zhendong over world No. 1 Wang Chuqin. Fan won the match, but his team fell 3–1; overwhelmed by the top seed.
Fan is now back in Germany, where he will continue the season playing for Saarbrücken in the TTBL. Fan’s professional career included being ranked No. 1 in the world, winning the World Championships, winning the World Cup and his last major title before leaving the tour: the 2024 Olympic singles title. Since then, he has fallen out with the ITTF and WTT and was replaced in the Chinese national team. But at least for now, this unranked player has once again proven that he is one of the best (maybe THE best). Fan Zhendong is back in Germany, but is also at the top of the table tennis world.
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