‘Don’t let fan culture erode Chinese table tennis’: China vows to ‘crack down’ on own fans

Chinese fans’ enthusiasm for the Olympics seems to have reached a boiling point as the nation pledges to “severely crack down on chaotic sport-related ‘fan circles’”.

China is cracking down on its fans as the passion for the Paris Games appears to boil over among its population.

Beijing police said they had arrested a woman for posting defamatory online comments about athletes and coaches after the women’s singles table tennis final at the Paris Olympics.

The 29-year-old woman, surnamed He, “maliciously fabricated information and openly slandered others”, the Public Security Bureau of Beijing’s Daxing district said in a statement on the X-like Weibo platform on Tuesday.

Silver medallist China's Sun Yingsha, Gold medallist China's Chen Meng and Bronze medallist Japan's Hina Hayata celebrate on the podium after the women's table tennis singles gold medal match at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the South Paris Arena in Paris on August 3. Picture: AFP

The statement did not say which athletes and coaches had been targeted and the case remains under investigation, the police said.

The arrest followed the women’s singles table tennis finals in Paris on Sunday, police said.

That match saw Chen Meng take gold in an all-China affair against Sun Yingsha.

While Sun received enthusiastic cheers from spectators during the match, Chen was subjected to boos from the crowd and abuse online.

China is cracking down on fans posting defamatory comments about athletes and coaches after the women’s singles table tennis final at the Paris Olympics. Picture: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

China’s Ministry of Public Security referred to the match as it vowed on Wednesday to “severely crack down on chaotic sport-related ‘fan circles’”. 

The ministry’s statement, reported by state media, urged fans to “watch the game in a civilised manner, discuss objectively, and respect coaches, athletes, and judges”.

China's Chen Meng. A 29-year-old woman was arrested for posting defamatory online comments about athletes and coaches after the women’s singles table tennis final. Picture: AFP

Weibo said in a statement on Sunday it had deleted more than 12,000 posts and banned more than 300 accounts following the incident.

It urged users to “keep their focus on the court and comment rationally”. 

According to Freeweibo, a website that monitors comments removed by the platform, among the deleted posts were those attacking Chen.

“The whole country was hoping for Sun Yingsha to win the women’s singles gold, where’s your sense of justice?” one said of Chen.

Some posts that showed a Sun fan in Paris appearing to raise their middle finger towards Chen were also taken down.

China’s Ministry of Public Security has vowed to ‘severely crack down on chaotic sport-related ‘fan circles’ after the incident. Picture: AFP

By Sunday, the trending hashtag “Don’t let fan culture erode Chinese table tennis” had gained more than 200 million views on Weibo. 

Many other users criticised fans in the stadium and expressed support for Chen.

“Anyone uninformed would have thought Yingsha was playing against a foreign opponent,” one comment read.

Weibo said that before the Games, it had deleted 8,200 comments and blocked more than 500 accounts for “abusive and slanderous” comments about athletes, urging users to cheer for all those competing for China in Paris.

China is the undisputed powerhouse of table tennis and has dominated in Paris.