Chinese paddler Wang Chuqin  Photo: VCG

Undeterred by the recent controversy surrounding table tennis player Wang Chuqin's damaged racket, the Chinese team continued their journey across multiple events including men's doubles, mixed doubles, and both men's and women's singles at the ongoing ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Doha, Qatar.

Lin Shidong had three matches on Wednesday. In the men's singles, Lin won a place in the round of 16 after beating Kristian Karlsson of Sweden. In the mixed doubles, Lin and Kuai Man lost to Japanese duo Maharu Yoshimura and Satsuki Odo 3-1, missing out on the semifinals.

World No.2 men's player Wang Chuqin overpowered Hong Kong player Wong Chun Ting 12-10, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 in the men's singles third round on Tuesday, advancing to the last 16, where he will face French player Simon Gauzy.

On Monday, the Chinese second seed noticed visible creases and cracks at the top of the rubber on the racket when he and his teammate Sun Yingsha were set to face Brazilian pair Bruna Takahashi and Hugo Calderano in the mixed doubles. Wang then switched to his backup racket. 

Since a similar incident at the Paris Olympics, during which his racket was broken underfoot and he was eliminated in the men's singles, Wang has worked to overcome psychological challenges during competition.

Wang said after the match with Wong that although he felt a bit unsettled because of what happened on Monday and wasn't fully focused at the beginning, having been through the Olympics, he is not too affected by such things anymore.

After all matches concluded on Monday, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) held a meeting about the incident. The CTTA put forward three key suggestions, including allowing team staff to accompany rackets throughout the entire inspection process to ensure no unauthorized individuals have access to the rackets after inspection, replacing the current containers with larger and safer ones for racket testing in future events, and requiring the entire inspection process to be recorded on video.

The ITTF responded by agreeing to allow each team to designate one staff member to accompany the racket during inspection. Additionally, the organizing committee will provide A4-sized large envelopes as containers for racket testing. 

The ITTF will confirm with the venue whether surveillance footage is available and provide timely feedback. It will continue investigating the cause of the racket damage and issue a written investigation report.

The championships organizing committee has implemented improvement measures by changing the racket packaging bags from B5 hard cases to A4 ultra-soft paper bags, the Beijing Youth Daily has reported. Staff now follow more standardized procedures to handle the rackets, ensuring they are treated with care, said the report.

Lasting from May 17 to May 25, the tournament is one of the key benchmarks in the lead-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. It includes men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles with singles matches following a best-of-seven format, while doubles are best-of-five.