Paris, France—China’s table tennis world number one Wang Chuqin suffered a shock defeat in the men’s Olympic singles on Wednesday, a day after having his bat broken.
Wang won mixed doubles gold on Tuesday in Paris, but his elation quickly turned to anger after a photographer accidentally snapped his bat while jostling to take a picture.
Wang is now out in the round of 32 of the singles after a 4-2 defeat to 26th-ranked Truls Moregard of Sweden.
Moregard, 22, sank to his knees in disbelief before doing a tour of the crowd, who rose in appreciation.
It capped a mixed couple of days for Wang, 24.
With his playing partner Sun Yingsha they beat North Korea in the mixed doubles final on Tuesday, but Wang admitted he “lost control of my emotions a little” after his bat was broken.
“I couldn’t understand why the photographers would do that,” he said in the aftermath.
“I guess they didn’t mean it. I can’t do anything now that it’s already happened.
“I believe I’ll still be able to play well with my back-up bat.”
Wang will next compete in the men’s team event.
The incident happened when Wang briefly put his paddle aside to raise the Chinese flag in celebration, reporters at the scene said.
China are the undoubted superpower of table tennis and came to the French capital having won 32 of the 37 available golds since it became an Olympic sport.
