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?

More important, Kong emphasized in his statement that he was leading the Chinese women's table tennis team in the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships, held in Dusseldorf, Germany, and he hoped to avoid "negative effects". Many of his fans commented that the incident is a conspiracy by certain countries to disturb the Chinese women's table tennis team. Some even said that, by reporting Kong's misdeeds, the media outlets are dishonoring the Chinese women's table tennis team.

Such a conspiracy theory is absurd. Kong is a member of the Communist Party of China as well as an official, and he deserves to be punished if he gambled. Even if he observed gambling in the casino without participating, as he claims, that's still a kind of violation of Party discipline.

Kong should face the penalty for breaking the rules, which has nothing to do with the Chinese women's table tennis team. It is those putting forward the ridiculous conspiracy theory that are putting the table tennis team to shame.

Fortunately, the Chinese Table Tennis Association has withstood the pressure from Kong's fans and suspended Kong from his job. That shows its firm determination to defend discipline. The General Administration of Sport has also said it is investigating the matter.