Paris 2024: World No. 1 Wang Chuqin forced to use backup paddle, suffers shock exit

The Star

China's world No. 1 men's singles paddler Wang Chuqin has played down the impact of a forced paddle change on his unexpected round of 32 loss in the singles event at the Paris Olympics.   Wang was beaten 2-3 by Sweden's Truls Moregardh, less than 24 hours after he celebrated his gold medal win in the mixed doubles on July 30.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Less than 24 hours after celebrating his Olympic gold medal win in the table tennis mixed doubles,

00:08world number one men's singles paddler Wang Chuqin suffered a shock exit in the singles

00:13event on Wednesday.

00:15The 24-year-old Chinese was beaten 10-12-7-11-11-5-11-7-6-11 by Sweden's Truls Morrigard in the round of 32

00:27at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

00:30It was the 22-year-old Morrigard's second win over a Chinese player in an international

00:35competition.

00:37After the match that lasted for 52 minutes, Morrigard celebrated by dancing on the floor

00:43that made the spectators go wild.

00:46Morrigard went on to beat Taiwan's Cao Chengjui for one in the next round to book a place

00:52in the quarter-finals.

00:54Wang, who had to switch to a backup paddle after the one he had been using for the Olympics,

00:59was damaged by photographers following the mixed doubles final, conceded that it did

01:04affect his emotions on Tuesday.

01:13But he said his subpar performance was the main reason for his defeat.

01:17He said should he play with the paddle he had used in the mixed doubles, it would not

01:22make any difference.

01:24He said the paddle is the same and belongs to him, but he made too many mistakes that

01:29cost him the game.

01:31This will be the first time China will not win gold and silver medals in the men's singles

01:36since the 2004 edition.

01:39Fan Zhendong is the only Chinese player left in men's singles to deliver gold for China.

01:52For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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