WTT Challenge: Fang Bo Takes Only Eight Points in Three Games as Gao Chi Sweeps Him

Fang Bo’s comeback produced its best result of the year, but his quarterfinal ended in a brutal mismatch. The former Chinese star lost 0-3 to France’s Gao Chi at the 2026 WTT Almaty Challenge, taking only eight points in the entire match.

The defeat drew attention because Fang had made a bold statement before facing Gao. “If I still can’t beat Simon, what am I even doing playing table tennis?” he said, using Gao’s nickname. The two had played three times before, with Fang winning every meeting without dropping a game. Their most recent encounter, however, had come at the 2017 year-end finals.

The rematch after nine years quickly turned one-sided. Gao won the opening game 11-1 after Fang conceded four points from serves and fell 0-10 behind. Fang again struggled to find his rhythm in the second, missing repeatedly and slipping to a 1-9 deficit before losing 11-2.

Fang called a timeout after falling 1-3 behind in the third game and briefly leveled the score at 4-4. Gao then launched a 7-1 run to close out the game 11-5 and claim his first victory over Fang.

Fang, who finished runner-up in the men’s singles at the 2015 World Championships, returned to competition in April after nearly five years retired. He had previously exited in qualifying at the Zagreb and Ljubljana events and lost his only match at the European Grand Smash. In Almaty, the world No. 332 received a wild card and defeated Germany’s Meng Fanbo and Kazakhstan’s top player Kirill Gerassimenko to reach the quarterfinals, his strongest result since returning. The loss still brought him 120 ranking points, which could lift him to about No. 156 next week.

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If I still can’t beat Simon, what am I even doing playing table tennis?