Chinese media shocked by broken racket incident that disqualified athlete from Olympics
Báo Dân trí•19/11/2024
(Dan Tri) - Chinese media was shocked when world number 1 table tennis player Wang Chuqin just won the gold medal in mixed doubles but was eliminated early in the men's singles due to a broken racket.
"Extremely shocking. World number one Wang Chuqin was eliminated in the opening match of the men's singles table tennis event and collapsed in anger," China's 163 newspaper ran a headline after witnessing Wang Chuqin, the number one seed in the men's singles event of the Olympic table tennis tournament, being shockingly eliminated in the round of 32 on July 31. Wang Chuqin is the player who just won the first gold medal in table tennis for the Chinese sports delegation with his teammate Sun Yingsha in the mixed doubles event on the evening of July 30.
Wang Chuqin was eliminated in the opening match of the men's singles table tennis event at the 2024 Paris Olympics when he lost to Truls Moregard, with a score of 2-4 (Screenshot).
However, the world number one was unexpectedly eliminated in the opening match of the men's singles event, losing 2-4 to Truls Moregard, the Swedish player ranked 26th in the world and the 19th seed at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is worth mentioning that in the 8 previous confrontations between Wang Chuqin and Truls Moregard in international tournaments, the Chinese player won. In fact, the Swedish player had never won more than 2 sets when facing Wang Chuqin. Therefore, being eliminated by Truls Moregard in the round of 32 of the men's singles event at the Olympics was truly an "earthquake" for Chinese table tennis as well as world table tennis. "Unfortunately, Wang Chuqin's journey in the men's singles was overshadowed from the start. The incident of his main racket being broken by a photographer was a bad omen. In addition, he was probably too tired after the mixed doubles match a few hours earlier and his physical strength was affected. This certainly added to the indescribable difficulty of the match," said 163 about the reason for Wang Chuqin's defeat.
Wang Chuqin's racket was broken by a photographer right after he won the gold medal in the mixed doubles event (Photo: Sina Sport).
"Wang Chuqin, the world's number one, was unexpectedly eliminated in the first round. He appeared frustrated with anger, while Moregaard was excited and lay on the ground to celebrate," the Chinese newspaper added about the moment the Olympic men's singles gold medal candidate was eliminated early in the opening match. Another Chinese newspaper, Sina Sport, was equally shocked when the bright star of the country's table tennis was eliminated early after the round of 32. "China's table tennis king was eliminated, missing the chance to enter the round of 16," Sina Sport headlined. Sina Sport also emphasized that the reason for Wang Chuqin's unbelievable defeat was due to the fact that his main racket broke and he had to switch to a side racket when competing in the men's singles.
Wang Chuqin was forced to use a side racket and played poorly against Truls Moregard, (Photo: Sina Sport).
"What does a racket mean to a table tennis player? On the court, the racket is a teammate who fights alongside the athletes, and is also the best witness to their sweat and victory. Especially for high-level athletes, the playing field is like a battlefield, a familiar and comfortable racket can maximize their competitiveness. However, it is not easy for players to find such a good racket. From choosing the soleplate to attaching the rubber, after attaching the rubber, the player must adapt to the grip of the racket and gradually bring the racket to the most comfortable and suitable state. When the racket breaks and switches to a secondary racket, it takes at least 10 days for the athletes to adapt, and this process is essential even for Olympic champions," commented Sina Sport. Notably, responding to the media after the defeat, player Wang Chuqin frankly said that his disqualification could not be blamed on the broken racket incident. "Changing the racket is not the reason for failure. In fact, there is no difference in feeling, because both rackets are mine. Today I failed because I made too many mistakes," Wang Chuqin frankly expressed. With Wang Chuqin being eliminated early in the men's singles event, Chinese table tennis now only has to rely on the performance of world No. 2 Fan Zhendong to defend the gold medal in the men's singles event won at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics three years ago. As for Wang Chuqin, although he was eliminated in the men's singles event, he still has one event to compete in, the men's team event. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, table tennis only has 5 sets of medals, including the men's team, women's team, men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles events. The two events of men's doubles and women's doubles are not included in the Paris Olympics.
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