Batting around conspiracy theory only serves to shame national team

KONG LINGHUI, A FORMER OLYMPIC TABLE TENNIS CHAMPION and head coach of the Chinese national women's table tennis team, has been suspended after he was sued by a Singaporean casino, which is seeking to recover about 4.9 million yuan ($715,000) in gambling debts. Beijing News comments:

On Sunday evening, Kong said on his micro blog that he entered the casino but did not participate in any gambling. He also said that his relative gambled and he "simply observed" and "knew nothing about the debt until the media covered it".

Kong's story does not hold water. Reports show that Kong owed millions of yuan to the casino, how could he sign for the loans without knowing about it?