After racket incident

Table tennis world star sensationally eliminated!

Wang Chuqin(Bild: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Chinese table tennis star Wang Chuqin has been eliminated in the singles in the second round. The 24-year-old, who had been considered the top favorite, was surprisingly defeated by Truls Möregårdh in 2:4 sets on Wednesday. 

Wang, one of the most popular athletes in China, had to play with a substitute racket against the Swede. His favorite model had apparently been damaged by photographers at the award ceremony on Tuesday after winning mixed gold with Sun Yingsha.

The Swede Truls Moregard can hardly believe that he prevailed against Wang.(Bild: APA/AFP/JUNG Yeon-je)

"Maybe it's fate"
 "I couldn't understand why the photographers did that," Wang said immediately after the incident, according to the Reuters news agency. "Now that it's happened, there's nothing I can do. I think I can still play well with my spare racket. Maybe that's fate."

Another chance for gold
Möregårdh said he doesn't think it affected the outcome of the match. "It didn't change anything at all. It wasn't the reason why I won today," said the 22-year-old, who plays for the Saarbrücken club and uses a hexagonal racket. The very rarely used Cybershape racket has been optimized to maximize the hitting area.

"It feels completely sick. It's absolutely the greatest thing I've ever done. Beating the number one at the Olympics - it doesn't get any better than this," said Möregårdh. Wang still has another chance to win gold in the team competition. In the individual competition, the Chinese number two, Fan Zhendong, is still in the running.