The removal of China's top table tennis coach "stirred up rare tensions in the country's sporting world, prompting a backlash from leading players and fans, and drawing the gaze of the country's censors," according to Li & Shepherd of REUTERS. Fans of table tennis, China's "unofficial" national sport, "flocked online to vent their anger over the removal of the national team's popular head coach, Liu Guoliang, who stepped down from his position last week." The country's three top players also boycotted a tournament on Friday and posted statements online saying, "We don't feel like playing any more right now, because we miss you Liu Guoliang." In response, mentions of Liu, ping pong and Gou Zhongwen, the director of the General Administration of Sport of China, became the "top censored words online on Monday," according to Free Weibo, a censorship-tracking site. The "uproar, and the rush to quell it, underscores growing unrest with China's Soviet-style management of sports." The country's state media and censors "quickly moved to quell any complaints." The People's Daily said, "Abandoning the tournament and making a scene ... is not only unhelpful but also means the relevant individuals will have to pay a cost for their unreasonable actions." One person familiar with the matter said that internet portals had also been asked to "dial down coverage of the furore" (REUTERS, 6/26).
