Wow, living in China sure seems like fun. For instance, if you are the reigning world champion in table tennis and a two-time Olympic silver medalist like Wang Hao and you want to have a girlfriend, up until very recently, it was forbidden. The 25-year old was banned from dating other players in the national ping-pong program until team officials relaxed their stranglehold on Hao and allowed him to pursue a relationship with Peng Luyang, a 23-year old former member of the team.
“Both of them are old enough and it’s normal,” Peng’s coach, Qiao Yunping said.
As part of their ridiculously tight control over their national athletes, China’s state-run sports system generally bans athletes from dating or marrying until they reach a certain age. As well, many of their winnings are redirected BACK into the system — but then, that’s communism.
Wang has been in this situation before, when in 2004 he started dating another ping-pong player, Fan Ying. Chinese officials booted her off the team for the infraction with Wang receiving no outward punishment. The reason? His world ranking was much higher than hers.
As Sean Connery says in the immortal action classic, The Rock, “Losers whine about doing their best, winners go home and fuck the prom queen.”


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