On July 1, the WTT Star Challenge in Bangkok will be held from July 2 to 7. The number of retirements increased again, with Japanese Olympian Hina Hayada withdrawing from the Women's Singles competition and her partner Tomokazu Haramoto continuing to play in the mixed doubles. Chen Xingtong of the national table tennis team became the top seed in the women's singles, and she and Lin Gaoyuan, who also held a wild card, fought to defend her singles title.
The Bangkok Stars Challenge is the last WTT event before the Paris Olympics, with a qualifying round on July 2-3 and a main event on July 4-7, with the winner earning 600 World Ranking points. Originally, except for the national table tennis that was undergoing closed training, most of the main players from other associations signed up for the competition to train and earn Olympic points. Although the national table tennis did not register for this competition, the organizer's wild card was given to Lin Gaoyuan and Chen Xingtong of the national table tennis, and the two have arrived in Bangkok to make final preparations for the competition.
Lin Gaoyuan and Chen Xingtong won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles in last year's competition, becoming triple crowns, and this year they will be looking to defend their titles in singles. Chen Xingtong said that he is ready and goes all out to be worthy of the trust of the team. Lin Gaoyuan said that this time he was the only one to participate in the men's singles competition, and he had to face greater challenges, and hoped that he could break through himself again in this competition.
With less than a month to go before the start of the Paris Olympics, many athletes have adjusted their plans and withdrawn from the competition according to their own circumstances. Following the withdrawal of France's Felix Lebrun, Brazil's Hugo Calderano, Japan's Hayasuke Togami, and the women's singles of Portugal's Fu Yu, Japan's Miu Hirano, France's Parvard, and India's Akula, the list of retirements grew again the day before the start of the tournament, with Japan's Hina Hayata, Sweden's Christina Carlberg and Christian Carlsen also opting out of the singles competition, and Carlsen/C. Carlberg also withdrew from the mixed doubles competition.
After Hina Hayada withdrew from the women's singles competition, Chen Xingtong became the top seed in the women's singles. However, Hina Hayada is not out of the mixed doubles competition, and her partner Tomokazu Zhang retains her hopes of hitting the mixed doubles world second after winning the mixed doubles title in Tunisia, and will face off with Korea's Lim Jong Hoon/Shin Yu Bin in Bangkok, who becomes the world second in the mixed doubles will become the second seed in the mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics, and can avoid the national table tennis pair Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha before the final.