“Why is Only Sun Yingsha Cheered?”… Why is there Biased Cheering in the Women’s Table Tennis Final [2024 Paris Olympics]
Women's Table Tennis Singles Finals: 'Family Fight'
Ranked 4th Chen Meng Defeats 1st Sun Yingsha.
Sun Yingsha's Fans Say "One-sided Support for Sun Yingsha Even Stopped the Match"
The controversy over distorted fandom culture has surfaced in the 2024 Paris Olympics table tennis women's singles final, which attracted attention as a match between Chinese players. 카지노사이트 추천
In the Paris Olympics table tennis women's singles final held at the South Paris Arena on the 3rd (local time), world No. 4 Chen Meng (China, 30) defeated No. 1 Sun Yingsha (24) 4-2 and won the gold medal.
Chen Meng won the singles title for the second consecutive time, following the last Tokyo Olympics.
During the match, the majority of the Chinese audience chanted "Sun Ying Sha."
Although all the players who made it to the finals were Chinese players, they showed biased cheers only for a certain player.
Hong Kong media outlet Phoenix News reported that "80% of the audience chanted "Sun Ying Sha, fight!" and "Chen Meng, fight!" could be heard once or twice."
Every time Sun Yingsha scored, the stands would roar, but on the other hand, when Chen Meng served or won a point, Sun Yingsha's fans would boo, and some would even wave their fingers and swear, causing the match to be halted.
After the match, when Chen Meng went up to the gold medal podium, many of the spectators also chanted Sun Yingsha's name.
Phoenix Wang, a reporter who was on the scene, said, "A French AFP reporter even asked, 'Why is everyone cheering for Sun Yingsha and not Chen Meng?'"
According to Phoenix News, an overheated fandom culture is emerging among fans of Chinese table tennis players.
The media explained the reason why Sun Yingsha fans are keeping an eye on Chen Meng, saying, "If Sun Yingsha wins, she will have achieved the fastest Grand Slam for a Chinese player in 433 days, and will be the first 'post-00' (born after 2000) to do so."
The scene that day also caused controversy among local table tennis fans in China.
On social media such as Weibo (the Chinese version of X), criticisms followed, such as, "Chen Meng had a hard time" "They are all players fighting for the honor of China, so why are they heckling her like this?" and "'Sisa' (Sun Yingsha's nickname) is a good player, but her fans are so malicious."
Singaporean media outlet United Zoubao also criticized this on the 4th, saying, "This is the emergence of a malicious fandom culture," and analyzing that a phenomenon often seen in entertainment industry fandoms has spread to the sports world.
The Chinese government is also wary of the deformed fandom culture of its sports fans.
In a meeting last May, the General Administration of Sports of China announced a policy stating, "We must resolutely block fandom culture throughout the entire process, including athlete selection and training."
