Paris 2024 | Chinese table tennis gold medalist's racket incident under investigation

(ECNS) -- The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee is investigating the cause of Chinese table tennis player Wang ChuQin’s racket being broken by photographers, according to an email response to the Beijing Youth Daily.

On Sunday, in the mixed doubles table tennis final at the Paris Olympics, Wang and his teammate Sun Yingsha defeated the North Korean pair 4-2, winning the first gold medal for the Chinese table tennis team.

After the match, Wang found his paddle had been damaged by excited photographers, which sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media.

“After the mixed doubles table tennis event on 30 July, athletes from the Chinese delegation celebrated with the flags of their country. This celebration led to a group of photographers wanting to capture the moment. Unfortunately, the sudden movement of the photographers led one of them to step onto the field of play and damage Wang Chuqin’s (CHN) racket,” the organizing committee said in the email.

“Paris 2024 deeply regrets the incident and is investigating the causes to ensure it does not repeat itself. Paris 2024 has strongly reminded photographers that they must adhere to the strict guidelines in place and always remain in the designated photo areas,” it added.

Wang said after the match that, "A photographer broke my racket by stepping on it. I don't think it was intentional, but as an Olympic photographer, especially one inside the venue, such incidents shouldn't happen."

The next day, Wang had to use his spare racket to continue the match, but he was shockingly defeated by Truls Moregard of Sweden 2-4 in round of 32 of the men's singles table tennis.

He said after the match that the main reason for the loss was his own performance.

Wang mentioned that his mood was affected by the incident to some extent, but it wasn't the reason for the loss. “The spare racket is no different from the main racket; they are both my own rackets,” he said.

“It was my own problems and numerous mistakes that led to the defeat. I had chances in the first game and managed to level the score to 9-all in the fifth game, but I didn't seize the opportunities. Moregard deserved this victory," he added.