SEOUL: The husband of South Korea table tennis star Jeon Ji-hee has accused the sport’s governing body of damaging his reputation, after it said he “sexually assaulted” a player and banned him for 10 years.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said coach and former Chinese player Xu Ke had been found guilty of “a serious violation of the ITTF Anti-Harassment Policy and Procedures”.
Xu, who was ranked as high as world No 129 as a player, denied the allegations and said the ruling was “a serious distortion of the facts”.
The world governing body said Xu had “been unresponsive to all requests” to take part in the investigation.
A document published by the ITTF Integrity Unit said that in the early hours of Jan 1, 2021, Xu invited four people, who were all part of a training camp, to his hotel room for drinks to continue New Year’s Eve celebrations.
While disputing the findings in a series of statements on social media, Xu said among those present were members of the Korean and Hong Kong table tennis teams.
The report said the victim, who was referred to as “the survivor”, wanted to leave Xu’s room when other players decided to end the night, but he convinced her to stay. - South China Morning Post
