Taiwan will be evicted from the hotel, the coach will bombard the event, and a new scandal in the table tennis world will be exposed?
At the Saudi Grand Slam table tennis tournament in May 2024, a shocking incident occurred. Zheng Yijing, a player from Taiwan Province of China, suffered an embarrassing situation of hotel eviction during the match. Her coach Zheng Jiaqi broke the news on social media, saying that Zheng Yijing was asked to move out of her room late at night in the hotel she was staying in and go to the lobby to rest, on the grounds that there were no rooms in the hotel.
The incident sparked heated discussions online, with fans condemning the organizers' misconduct as disrespectful to the participating athletes. Some netizens bluntly said: "This is simply an insult to athletes, how can they have a good performance if they are kicked out of the room on the eve of an important competition?" ＂
Coach Zheng Jiaqi was even more furious, he slammed the management level of the tournament organizers on social media, and angrily said, "What the hell is the grass stage team, Zheng Yijing still has a women's singles match tomorrow." Obviously, this incident seriously affected Zheng Yijing's state of readiness.
Sure enough, Tian Zheng Yijing lost to Japanese player Hina Hayada in the game. Although Zheng Yijing did not directly blame the loss on being kicked out of the room, coach Zheng Jiaqi firmly believed that being kicked out of the room late at night affected Zheng Yijing's state and caused her to not play as well as she should.
Netizens deeply felt the same way, and some bluntly said: "If I am also treated like this, how can I play well in the game?" The organizer's behavior is simply self-destructing the Great Wall! ＂
People have questioned what serious problems exist in the organization and management of this Saudi Grand Slam. Some netizens listed a series of chaos, such as imperfect venue facilities and poor training conditions, which affected the preparation of the contestants.
In the face of such strong public condemnation, the organizers of the tournament have not made any explanation or apology so far. This made more netizens feel extremely disappointed and angry, and some people directly called Liu Guoliang, vice president of the ITTF and executive chairman of WTT, asking him to come forward to deal with the matter and protect the rights and interests of athletes.
This incident once again raised questions about the management of table tennis events. Some fans bluntly said: "Such chaos is not uncommon in international competitions, which is really ridiculous and pathetic." ＂
This incident has had a serious impact on the preparation environment and rights and interests of participating athletes. Some fans believe that the inaction of the organizers is even more distressing and distressing. "As the organizer of international events, it is simply self-defeating to fail to protect even the basic rights and interests of athletes! ＂
For the poor performance of the organizers, netizens are also condemning. Someone pointed out: "This kind of event organization ability is not worthy of holding an international competition at all." If it were me, I would have been furious! ＂
This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has been in turmoil. As early as last year, a number of contestants raised serious questions about the conditions and logistics of the event. At that time, the organizer also failed to make timely rectifications, resulting in the problem being postponed to this day.
In the face of such a passive situation, the ITTF seems to have failed to play its due role. A ball critic bluntly criticized: "As the highest governing body, the ITTF should intervene in the investigation of this matter in a timely manner and urge the organizers to make corrections." But now it seems that their attitude towards this matter is too passive. ＂
For a time, the credibility of the ITTF was also greatly impacted in the hearts of fans. Some netizens said angrily: "Is the ITTF just staying out of the matter? What is your role as the highest governing body? ＂
In the face of such strong public pressure, the ITTF finally responded. They said they would set up an investigation team to thoroughly investigate the incident. The ITTF also promised that it would put forward rectification opinions to the organizers to effectively protect the rights and interests of participating athletes.
This statement did not completely calm the anger of public opinion. Some fans questioned: "Is it enough to just investigate and rectify opinions?" If the organizers ignore it, what hard measures do you have? ＂
Others are skeptical of the ITTF's sincerity. They believe that the reason why the ITTF responded this time is likely to be out of its own reputation, rather than sincerely defending the rights and interests of athletes.
"If we really pay attention to the rights and interests of athletes, why let this chaos happen again and again in the event? It is clear that he was forced to this point by the pressure of public opinion, so he had to make a statement. Some fans accused so bluntly.
In the face of such fierce public criticism, the ITTF will undoubtedly be in a dilemma. On the one hand, they must take practical actions to effectively protect the rights and interests of participating athletes; On the other hand, they must balance their relationship with the organizers to avoid further escalation of conflicts.
For the majority of fans, what they hope is that the ITTF can learn from this incident and make improvements in the management of future events to prevent such chaos from happening again. Only in this way can the reputation of table tennis be truly rebuilt and the fans' confidence in international events rekindled.