Yahoo Sports Table tennis chiefs vow to take action after racist incident during match
The table tennis authorities have vowed action “to prevent the recurrence of racist incidents” after spectators were heard shouting “yellow banana” as Chinese star Liang Jingkun’s starred at the World Championships.
A fan was heard calling out “yellow banana, yellow!” throughout Liang’s round-of-16 win at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.
Liang, the world No 9, was targeted while leading 8-4 in the deciding game against Liam Pitchford, before eventually composing himself to clinch a 4-3 victory.
Pitchford, ranked 15, ate a banana as a snack with Liang speaking to his coach when a small group of fans joined in with the offensive chant.
“Although it looked as if the man was saying that Pitchford was eating a banana, given that the word ‘banana’ is an insult to the yellow race in English slang, and based on the actual circumstances, it is also reasonable to suspect that he was actually making a racist insult against Liang,” read an article in The Global Times.
While the International Table Tennis Federation denounced the incident and confirmed that they were taking it “very, very serious”.
“We got a complaint from the Chinese Table Tennis Association and we noticed something on one night ourselves,” Steve Dainton, Group CEO of the ITTF, told China Media Group in Houston.
“And as soon as we got that complaint, together with the local organisers, we took it very, very serious, and we started to take action.
“If anything was ever heard again, we would take those people out,” Dainton added.
The incident comes amid efforts from tournament organisers had looked to promote unity and inclusivity after 50 years of “ping pong diplomacy” with two US-China pairs in the mixed doubles event.
Wang Manyu and American Kanak Jha advanced to the round of 16, while China’s Lin Gaoyuan and Lily Zhang of the US came unstuck in the semi-finals, falling 3-2 to Japanese pair Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata.
“It’s very, very, very seriously taken by the ITTF,” said the governing body’s president Petra Sorling. “We are standing against racism, and for us, ‘Table Tennis. For All. For Life’ is reality, it’s not only our motto.”
Liang was eventually knocked out of the semi-finals in the men’s singles, as world No 1 Fan Zhendong proved his class in a 4-1 victory, advancing to Monday’s final against Sweden’s Truls Moregard.
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