6 ms·

This is not even the most famous case of such practice in China, which goes to He Zhili [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Zhili https://en.wikipedia.or

This is not even the most famous case of such practice in China, which goes to He Zhili [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Zhili https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Zhili The gist is that she was ordered to lose in one World Table Tennis Championships, but refused and proceeded to be the champion. Later she wasn't selected for the next Olympic, which she felt was the punishment for her disobedience. She later immigrated to Japan and played for their national team and gave China some trouble for a while. There is also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_doubles#Group_stage_disqualifications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_at_the_2012_Summer_O... The funny thing is, they do that in table tennis (actually also badminton in some other cases other than the one in the article) not even just to secure the gold medal: since China is/was so dominant in this sport, they sometimes do it to ensure certain player can get his/her "grand slam" [2] (to win all the major tournaments in their career). [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_tennis#Notable_players https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_tennis#Notable_players

jxramos 4y ago
I'm curious why would they have an interest in a particular player ever getting a grand slam?
- thrdbndndn 4y ago
  I guess it's simply an honor to have, and if you (the country) are going to win anyway, why not? Keep in mind it's not any "particular" individual, everyone take turns. So if you're "close", you have the priority. If you already have one? Well you can try to not push so hard. And it's not like it happens all the time, just in a few cases. It's still largely merit-based especially for things like Olympics trial, you have to earn it no matter who you are.
- archsurface 4y ago
  To create a national superhero.
- shakna 4y ago
  It's a regular thing in other sports, as well. The number of times it has caused controversy in Formula-One, with a safety driver told to lose, is probably not even worth counting. (Everyone does it, but they're not supposed to). It has something to do with prestige and respect, often enforced by the team owner. Lewis Hamilton made his first huge win by ignoring such an instruction.
  - AmericanChopper 4y ago
    I’m not sure what you mean by safety driver, but F1 is explicitly a team sport, and team orders are a part of the sport rather than a form of cheating. As much as the fans like to complain about it, there’s only really a few controversial cases that stand out in peoples memories, like the multi 21 race (which ultimately had 0 impact on the championship).
    - dmitriid 4y ago
      Yeah, yeah, team sport, and then Alonso who leads everyone by a lap just randomly slows down in the last two laps to let Schumacher win [1] [1] It was quite some time ago, but I'm still pissed
      - Andrew_nenakhov 4y ago
        Alonso?! Maybe you mean Barrichello?
        dmitriid 4y ago
        Maybe? It was loooong ago :)
        beebeepka 4y ago
        Haha. Alonso would never play second fiddle.
      - volongoto 4y ago
- hiyer 4y ago
  Speculating - maybe they thought the other player had better chances of winning?
  - michaelmrose 4y ago
    Correct but it also increases the chance of a win by preventing the player from exhausting themselves in round 1 leaving them fresher for round 2 so one could see it as not much different than doping or any other form of cheating. An unfair advantage conferred by corruption.
- arinlen 4y ago
  > I'm curious why would they have an interest in a particular player ever getting a grand slam? I'm sure that it's for the same reason football teams have their top scorer take their team's penalty kicks.
rurban 4y ago
Chinese table tennis is full of such cases. This is their national sport, this is were they dominate. Many Chinese players fall out with their brutal system. Either they barge and do nothing, like Liu Shiwen in the last decade, who was the very best player, but had some terrible losses to non-chinese players. Thus she was not allowed to play Olympics as World No #1. The most upsetting thing is that she lost to Ex-Chinese players, who left the system and played for Korea or Singapore. Some even for European countries, but only one ex-Top 10 player. He Zhili played for Japan, Harimoto Tomukazu's parents also left the Chinese system at very young age and played for Japan. Last Olympics were extremely stressful for China because of this Ex-Chinese player who won against the very best, effectively unbeatable Chinese superstars, with new techniques. Then the Chinese looked very vulnerable because several European players also took that up and beat the GOAT Ma Long in a series of losses. Some 2nd rank Bejing politician took his chances and fired the coaches, the 3 best players defended their coaches and wanted to protect their superior system from some amateur destroying everything for his political chances. So the whole team was recalled from the ongoing World Championships, and didn't play for the next years. (Ma Long also had a knee injury). A new young Chinese protege didn't turn out to be winner against Harimoto, so after 3 years the old trainer at least in the men's team was allowed to come back, the old players won again, and China won almost all gold medals. They just lost one, even if they developed a secret win strategy against their biggest opponent, a young Japanese, and surprised them in the finals, but Liu Shiwen's partner fell off, and they lost Mixed Doubles. So Liu Shiwen is now forever dirty, not winning any Olympics gold. But she stayed in the system, and still is best paid player worldwide. She will probably retire this year. However, no Ex-Chinese player ever won a gold medal against them. This would be their worst upset, it might even trigger a downfall of the political system.
- _tik_ 4y ago
  Some addition to your comment. The players that join Singapore is to get chances to compete Internationally. China has too many good table tennis players. Even their second and third-rate national players are still considered top International players.
- garfieldnate 4y ago
  A downfall of their political system? This is a joke, right? They can't be that fragile.

jxramos 4y ago

I'm curious why would they have an interest in a particular player ever getting a grand slam?

thrdbndndn 4y ago
I guess it's simply an honor to have, and if you (the country) are going to win anyway, why not? Keep in mind it's not any "particular" individual, everyone take turns. So if you're "close", you have the priority. If you already have one? Well you can try to not push so hard. And it's not like it happens all the time, just in a few cases. It's still largely merit-based especially for things like Olympics trial, you have to earn it no matter who you are.
archsurface 4y ago
To create a national superhero.
shakna 4y ago
It's a regular thing in other sports, as well. The number of times it has caused controversy in Formula-One, with a safety driver told to lose, is probably not even worth counting. (Everyone does it, but they're not supposed to). It has something to do with prestige and respect, often enforced by the team owner. Lewis Hamilton made his first huge win by ignoring such an instruction.
- AmericanChopper 4y ago
  I’m not sure what you mean by safety driver, but F1 is explicitly a team sport, and team orders are a part of the sport rather than a form of cheating. As much as the fans like to complain about it, there’s only really a few controversial cases that stand out in peoples memories, like the multi 21 race (which ultimately had 0 impact on the championship).
  - dmitriid 4y ago
    Yeah, yeah, team sport, and then Alonso who leads everyone by a lap just randomly slows down in the last two laps to let Schumacher win [1] [1] It was quite some time ago, but I'm still pissed
    - Andrew_nenakhov 4y ago
      Alonso?! Maybe you mean Barrichello?
      - dmitriid 4y ago
        Maybe? It was loooong ago :)
        beebeepka 4y ago
        Haha. Alonso would never play second fiddle.
    - volongoto 4y ago
hiyer 4y ago
Speculating - maybe they thought the other player had better chances of winning?
- michaelmrose 4y ago
  Correct but it also increases the chance of a win by preventing the player from exhausting themselves in round 1 leaving them fresher for round 2 so one could see it as not much different than doping or any other form of cheating. An unfair advantage conferred by corruption.
arinlen 4y ago
> I'm curious why would they have an interest in a particular player ever getting a grand slam? I'm sure that it's for the same reason football teams have their top scorer take their team's penalty kicks.

rurban 4y ago

Chinese table tennis is full of such cases. This is their national sport, this is were they dominate. Many Chinese players fall out with their brutal system. Either they barge and do nothing, like Liu Shiwen in the last decade, who was the very best player, but had some terrible losses to non-chinese players. Thus she was not allowed to play Olympics as World No #1. The most upsetting thing is that she lost to Ex-Chinese players, who left the system and played for Korea or Singapore. Some even for European countries, but only one ex-Top 10 player. He Zhili played for Japan, Harimoto Tomukazu's parents also left the Chinese system at very young age and played for Japan. Last Olympics were extremely stressful for China because of this Ex-Chinese player who won against the very best, effectively unbeatable Chinese superstars, with new techniques. Then the Chinese looked very vulnerable because several European players also took that up and beat the GOAT Ma Long in a series of losses. Some 2nd rank Bejing politician took his chances and fired the coaches, the 3 best players defended their coaches and wanted to protect their superior system from some amateur destroying everything for his political chances. So the whole team was recalled from the ongoing World Championships, and didn't play for the next years. (Ma Long also had a knee injury). A new young Chinese protege didn't turn out to be winner against Harimoto, so after 3 years the old trainer at least in the men's team was allowed to come back, the old players won again, and China won almost all gold medals. They just lost one, even if they developed a secret win strategy against their biggest opponent, a young Japanese, and surprised them in the finals, but Liu Shiwen's partner fell off, and they lost Mixed Doubles. So Liu Shiwen is now forever dirty, not winning any Olympics gold. But she stayed in the system, and still is best paid player worldwide. She will probably retire this year. However, no Ex-Chinese player ever won a gold medal against them. This would be their worst upset, it might even trigger a downfall of the political system.

_tik_ 4y ago
Some addition to your comment. The players that join Singapore is to get chances to compete Internationally. China has too many good table tennis players. Even their second and third-rate national players are still considered top International players.
garfieldnate 4y ago
A downfall of their political system? This is a joke, right? They can't be that fragile.