Wang overpowers HK veteran after racket saga

A composed Wang Chuqin overpowered Hong Kong player Wong Chun Ting in the men's singles third round of the World Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday.

One day after he shouted "why always me" over a damaged racket, the Chinese second seed played an aggressive game to nail a 12-10, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 victory over the 33-year-old.

Wang Chuqin hits a return during the men's singles round of 32 match between Wang Chuqin of China and Wong Chun Ting of China's Hong Kong at ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025 in Doha, Qatar, May 20, 2025. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)

"Wong is a quite strong player and I tried not to make mistakes," said Wang. "By taking the first set, I felt I was on the right way."

Wang admitted he had restored peace of mind following an eventful day which saw his racket damaged and the Chinese Table Tennis Association protest and appeal to the sport's governing body ITTF.

Minutes before Wang and Sun Yingsha took on Brazil's Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi on Monday, Wang found part of the rubber had come off his blade and questioned the umpire if anyone had mishandled the racket.

"Since I had a worse situation in the Paris Olympics, I was able to regain my cool soon enough," said Wang, referring to the incident in which his racket was broken, allegedly by photographers.

Wang will next play France's 43-ranked Simon Gau, who upset 16th-ranked Chinese Lin Gaoyuan, 2-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3.

Fifth seed Liang Jingkun of China whitewashed Portugal's Marcos Freitas 4-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-5, 16-14) to join France's Felix Lebrun in the fourth round. The Frenchman came from 1-2 down to defeat South Korea's Oh Jun-sung in six sets (11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-5).

In women's singles action, China's fourth seed Wang Yidi and sixth seed Shi Xunyao both made it to last 16.

Chinese doubles pair Liang Jingkun and Huang Youzheng reached the men's doubles quarterfinals, and Wang Manyu and Kuai Man made it to the women's doubles last eight.