If you want to wear the crown, you must bear the weight.
On February 9, 2025, Chinese table tennis team youngster Lin Sidong won the men’s singles title at the WTT Singapore Grand Slam, thus laying the groundwork for a world record two days later – on February 11, at the age of 19 years, 9 months and 24 days, he surpassed his predecessor, Kong Linghui, and became the youngest player in the history of men’s table tennis to become world No. 1 in the world rankings.
However, no one would have thought that the rising momentum of the star of hope will soon be pressed “pause button”, ranked No. 1 in the world so far (May 6), but never won a title, three international competitions have failed to reach the top, and currently against the three major rivals Hugo, LeBrun, Harimoto Tomokazu’s record are in a disadvantage, and next! will face a tough test at the Doha World Series as he will be fighting in three different events.
Lin Sidong was born on April 18, 2005, is the current Chinese table tennis team in the new generation of real leaders, as early as the Tokyo Olympics before the Olympic Games has defeated the Olympic champion Xu Xin, but unfortunately the Chinese team competition is too fierce, so he in the two consecutive Olympic cycle in the ranks of the main force.
After the arrival of the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, Lin Shidong’s team position finally rose to the top five ranks, the end of 2024 for the first time in the World Championships team starting lineup and realize the dream of world championships, but also in the major international tournaments continue to win gold medals, rankings have also risen, and continue to overtake the one after another, and now finally reached the world’s number one position.
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As mentioned before, Lin Shidong not only led the crowd in points, but also was the youngest ever ranked No. 1 in the world in men’s ping pong. However, after this, Lin Shidong failed to reach the top of the world rankings in three consecutive international tournaments, with the specific results as follows:
Shenzhen Asia Cup: He lost to Liang Jingkun 3-4 in the semi-finals;
WTT Chongqing Championships: lost in the final, 1-4 to Wang Chuqin;
Macau World Cup: stopped in the final, 1-4 against Hugo (Brazil).
With three quarter-finalists and two finalists, Lin’s recent performances are not to say that he has not been outstanding, but for the World No. 1, it is still a pity that he did not win the title.
In addition, Lin’s current record against the three major foreign association rivals has also made his world No. 1 ranking controversial – as of May 2025, Lin has lost all two of his encounters with Brazil’s Hugo, three of his five matches against French starlet Petit Le Brun, and four of his five encounters with Japanese mainstay Harimoto Tomokazu.
All the signs show that Lin Shidong’s ranking although reached the top position of the men’s ping pong, but in fact want to wear the “world’s first” this crown is still a little reluctant, no singles world champion, no absolute advantage in internal battle, external battle repeatedly hit the wall is undoubtedly in the ping ping ping world position is seriously affected.
Objectively speaking, Lin Shidong can be ranked at the top of both by his personal strength, but also with the background of the times have a certain relationship, because the current rules and regulations system is relatively easier for him to play a stable, physical fitness of the juniors to quickly improve points, but for the less experienced Lin Shidong, “the world’s number one” needs more big championships as the support, just rely on the ranking is not enough. However, for Lin Shidong, who has less experience in competitions, the “World No. 1” needs to be supported by more championships.
From the technical point of view, Lin Sidong is undoubtedly one of the top players in today’s men’s table tennis team, but due to the fact that he hasn’t been in the Chinese table tennis team’s main force for a long time, he is relatively inexperienced in major competitions, and therefore is prone to dropping the ball at critical moments. We also hope that he can gradually mature in the process of sharpening his skills over and over again, and strive to overcome the pressure of playing both disciplines in the Doha World Series to achieve more good results.
