Korean tennis star Kwon Soon-woo (26, Dangjin City Hall)토토사이트, who participated in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, is receiving criticism from the public for his unmannered attitude of breaking his racket and refusing to shake his opponent’s hand after losing in the men’s singles match.
Kwon Soon-woo, ranked 112th in the world, received the 4th seed in men’s singles, passed the first round by default, and played his first match in the second round on the 25th. On this day, he faced Kasidit Samrez (Thailand), an unknown player ranked 636th in the world, in the second round held at the Hangzhou Olympic Center in Zhejiang, China, and the result was unexpected. It was a shock loss of 1-2 (3-6 7-5 4-6).
The problem was his attitude after the game ended. When defeat was confirmed, Kwon Soon-woo could not overcome his anger and smashed his racket on the floor of the court several times. Even after his racket was smashed, he hit the chair twice more, and while packing his luggage, he picked up the racket again and hit the court. His opponent, Samrez, approached him and offered to shake his hand, but Kwon Soon-woo ignored him without even giving him a glance.
The audience erupted in boos over Kwon Soon-woo’s unmannered behavior. Afterwards, the video also spread on China’s Weibo, garnering more than 6 million views. On Chinese social media , “A tennis player must love the racket. That’s why you lose. Criticisms such as “Players who do not respect tennis should be banned from playing for life” were raised.
Foreign media also pointed out Kwon Soon-woo’s attitude. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post ( SCMP ) said in an article titled ‘Korean tennis player shatters racket after loss and refuses to shake hands with opponent’, “Kwon Soon-woo lost to an opponent whose world ranking was more than 500 places higher than that of his opponent.” After it was confirmed that he had done it, he continued to hit the racket hard on the court, breaking it. Even after that, he did not stop his actions, such as hitting the chair with his racket,” he said. “The opposing player approached Kwon Soon-woo to shake his hand, but did not even make eye contact. “In the end, the opposing player had to bow only to the audience,” he criticized.
Criticism is also growing among domestic sports fans. There was a series of criticism that it was a ‘disgrace to the country’ to show such a lack of manners while wearing the Taegeuk symbol as a national representative at an international competition. There was a flood of criticism online, such as “If you compete as a member of the national team, you must show appropriate dignity,” “You must be stripped of your national team qualification,” and “A player who does not know the spirit of sports is not eligible for the national team.”
Kwon Soon-woo aimed for a gold medal in the men’s singles tennis category at the Asian Games, but failed to advance to the round of 16. After his shoulder injury, he returned last month but is struggling, going on a six-game losing streak. He was left with only the men’s doubles match in this tournament, where he was paired with Hong Seong-chan (26, Sejong City Hall).