Kong Linghui, one of China’s most celebrated table tennis champions, has been suspended from his role as coach of the national women’s team after being implicated in a gambling debt scandal involving Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Casino.
The controversy erupted just as the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships began in Germany. Kong, 41, was recalled to China after the casino filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong, alleging he failed to repay nearly $720,000 in credit markers from a 2015 visit.
Allegations and Denial
According to the lawsuit, Marina Bay Sands extended Kong S$1 million (about US$720,000) in credit during his stay, of which he repaid S$550,000, leaving an unpaid balance of roughly US$320,000.
Kong denied personal responsibility, claiming on Weibo that he only accompanied friends and family to the casino and merely opened a line of credit for them to use. “I have only learned through the media that someone left unpaid debts with the casino,” he wrote. “I am being dragged into the lawsuit and have asked those responsible to come forward and clarify the facts.”
He also expressed regret over the scandal’s impact on the national team, saying, “I am deeply disturbed by the negative effects of this incident. I will work with my team to minimize distractions and continue to fight for the honor of our motherland.”
A Storied Career
Nicknamed the “Ping Pong Prince,” Kong is among the few players in history to achieve table tennis’s “grand slam,” winning the World Championships, World Cup, and Olympic titles. He claimed Olympic gold in both 1996 and 2000, along with a silver medal.
Kong helped usher in an era of Chinese dominance in the sport after training in Sweden to study European playing styles. By 1995, he had become the world’s top-ranked player.
His post-retirement years have not been without controversy. In 2006, Kong retired at age 30 following a drunk-driving crash in Beijing, though authorities spared him detention due to his contributions to Chinese sports.
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