Ding Ning in women's singles table tennis

The table tennis women's singles final went between two Chinese players: world No. 1 ranked Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia. Li defeated Ding with a 4-1 victory.

During the match, Ding was repeatedly cautioned by the referee regarding her serve. She broke down in tears when in the fourth set she received a third penalty from the Italian umpire Paola Bongelli, a red card, for using a towel at the wrong time. The red card immediately followed the second service penalty when Ding was already down by 2-5.

Ding is a left-handed attacker who uses a particular squatting service that her opponents find difficult to adjust to. This skill got Ding several penalties during this match. Ding claimed she had been using this serving technique over the past two years and never received any penalty, not even a warning.