Preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese Table Tennis Association announced the promotion on Tuesday of former national team head coach Liu Guoliang to vice-president of the association.

It also announced the elimination of the head-coach position. Instead, it will build two parallel coaching groups to guide the men's and women's squads independently.

As head coach of the team from 2013-17, Liu oversaw the management and training of both squads and was responsible for player recruitment for major international events including the Olympics and world championships.