Two Vietnam’s top players on the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) latest ranking table, Tuan Quynh and Quang Linh, will miss the upcoming Southeast Asian Games due to an internal change of selection standards.

“They were eliminated from the Vietnamese national team to take part in the Games [to be held next month in Myanmar] because they failed to play in selection matches,” said Tran Duc Phan, head of the elite sports department under the General Department of Sports and Physical Training.

“Reports from the national table tennis federation showed that Linh missed the three-round contest and Quynh withdrew from the second round for family affairs,” he added.

Before, a player was admitted into a national team based on his results at domestic and international tournaments during an entire year, not during a single selection tournament, as was the case this year.

Phan said that Vietnam had no outstanding male players after tournaments this year and so the selection was based on the three-round contest.

The four male players chosen to take part in the 27th SEA Games include Le Tien Dat, who ranks 818th in the world by the ITTF this year, Nguyen Van Ngoc, Duong Van Nam, and Dao Duy Hoang, who are not ranked by the ITTF.

Meanwhile, the two eliminated players are Quynh, ranked 287th in the world and #1 in Vietnam, and Linh, ranked 318th in the world and #2 in Vietnam by the ITTF.

The ITTF’s rankings are also based on the outcomes of players at domestic and international tournaments.