A video clip posted on a popular Internet site caught Chinese
men's team head coach Liu Guoliang slapping young player Hao Shuai
in the face.
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The clip, posted by Ksjerry on YouTube, showed the coach hit Hao
twice as the Tianjin player was immersed in cell phone conversation
when other coaches and players were drinking and chatting by a
round table in an unknown restaurant.
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The 48-second clip caught an uproar among Chinese netizens, who
posted messages accusing the 31-year-old coach of being rude and
overbearing.
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The clip started with Chinese coaches Liu and Xiao Zhan drinking
with players Chen Qi and Ma Long, with Hao leaning back on the
chair talking into cell phone. When Chen called Hao to return to
drinking, Hao snapped back: "Shut up!"
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An agitated Liu stood up and slapped Hao in the back of his head.
Then he snatched Hao's phone and slapped him again in the
face.
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On the sidelines of the Asian table tennis championships on
Tuesday, Liu denied he had hit Hao, adding the so-called incident
happened in southern Chinese city Sanya last December.
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"Hit is a strong word," said Liu. "I didn't hit anyone. I just
stroked Hao Shuai to remind him to show due respect to his coaches
and teammates.? The video showed the stroke was a bit heavy.
But it doesn't look like what it was."
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Liu Guoliang, himself a "grand slam" winner of Olympic, world
championship and World Cup singles gold medals, became a national
team coach in 2002.
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Never away from controversy, Liu had been suspected of doping in
1999 but the International Table Tennis Federation cleared his name
in 2000.
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Another Chinese coach Kong Linghui, also a "grand slam" winner and
now a women's team coach, has been as flamboyant as Liu.
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In 2006, Kong was fined after a late-night drunk driving incident,
in which the newly-appointed Chinese coach crashed a Porsche
Boxster into a taxi cab in downtown Beijing.
(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2007)