Olympic champ sent for rural re-education (Reuters) Updated: 2006-05-16 15:49
BEIJING -- Olympic table tennis doubles champion Chen Qi has been sent to the
countryside for "re-education", as Beijing Times reported on Monday.
Chen Qi works in the fields
surrounding Pan Tao,a village in China's Heibei Province.
[Xinhua] | Hard labour in the fields surrounding
Pan Tao -- a village in China's northern province of Hebei -- is the latest
instalment of team discipline to befall 21-year-old Chen after he lost his cool
at an international table tennis event over two months ago.
After losing to compatriot Wang Ha in the men's final at the Asia Cup in
Japan on March 5, Chen flung the ball to the ground and kicked a chair into the
air.
The unsportsmanlike act earned Chen a "list" of penalties from team mates,
the Beijing Times said.
He can now add "levelling dirt... weeding and plucking cucumbers," as part of
his rehabilitation, which has also involved heavy fines, a lengthy benching and
a televised public apology.
Chen is expected to spend a week in the fields before he joins Jiangsu team
mates ahead of the domestic league season.
Chinese athletes are held to strict standards of conduct and are expected to
put national duties above personal interests. Expectations in table tennis, a
sport China has long dominated and considers its national game, are especially
steep.
Sending players into rural areas was an idea the team had raised
before, the Beijing Times quoted national team coach Liu Guoliang as saying.
"If the education proves effective, we'll consider sending the whole
team," Liu said.
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