ITTF strongly opposes all racism

HOUSTON - The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) strongly opposes all forms of racism, the governing body for all national table tennis associations said Sunday in a statement.

"The table tennis family is a global community group composed of 227 member associations," the ITTF said in the statement, noting "diversity unites us".

"We will not tolerate any racist remarks or behavior, and we are working closely with the local organizing committee to prevent recurrence of racist incidents in our games," added the ITTF.

The statement came as the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships continues in the US city of Houston.

It's reported that during the men's singles eighth-finals of the Worlds held on Friday, an audience suddenly shouted "yellow bananas" in the stands to Chinese athlete Liang Jingkun, who played against Liam Pitchford then.