by Kabir Nagpal

Wang Chuqin has withdrawn from all three events in which he was scheduled to compete in Linz, the men’s singles, the men’s doubles partnering Fan Zhendong and the mixed doubles in harness with Liu Shiwen.

The suspension for the 19 year old, who just over one year ago won gold at the Buenos 2018 Youth Olympic Games, concludes on Thursday 13th February; thus his attendance at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, in which he has qualified to compete in the men’s singles event, is now in doubt.

The situation arose after the dramatic concluding preliminary round match between against Zhao Zihao. Out of form, Wang Chuqin lost the first three games, he recovered, levelled but lost the deciding game (12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 6-11, 11-9). Disappointed, in the heat of the moment at the end of the third game, he threw his racket at the table, thus contravening the ethics of sport.

Notably the match was in sharp contrast their meeting just over one month ago in Sweden when en route to the title, at the quarter-final stage Wang Chuqin had beaten Zhao Zihao in four straight games (11-6, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5). No doubt that fact added the frustration of a player known for his calm and resolute approach.

It is the latest sign of the zero tolerance policy adopted by the Chinese Table Tennis Association for any form of indiscipline. Earlier this year both Zhou Yu and Fang Bo were suspended for incidents that concerned the infringement of regulations.

The Chinese Table Tennis Association released the following translated statement: