Kong Linghui has not returned to the national table tennis team as head coach. He left the system after a 2017 incident and has lived a low-key life since.
Did Kong Linghui Fail to Return to the Chinese National Table Tennis Team as Head Coach?
In 2017, a sudden casino scandal erupted, and Kong Linghui—who at the time was leading the Chinese women’s national table tennis team in preparation for the Olympic cycle and aiming for an Olympic gold medal—was immediately removed from the national team’s first-team coaching staff.
Back then, he and Liu Guoliang were the “dynamic duo” of the men’s team, joining forces to win the World Table Tennis Championships, the World Cup,Olympic titles in all team and individual events. He was widely recognized within the sport as the “Prince of Table Tennis.” No one could have predicted that, after leaving the national table tennis system, he would not, as the public had expected, venture into the high-end sports business sector. Instead, he only sporadically offered a small number of private table tennis lessons for amateur enthusiasts,He later experimented with business ventures in various fields, but after several years of trial and error, he ultimately chose a relatively low-key and stable lifestyle.
Nearly a decade has passed
since the controversy erupted, and every so often, rumors surface that he will return to the Chinese national table tennis team to take on the role of head coach. Each time such rumors emerge, they spark widespread discussion and controversy online.
To date, official statements have made it clear that Kong Linghui has neither been appointed head coach of the national table tennis team nor joined the team’s first-team coaching staff.
The lesson to be learned from
this incident is crystal clear: even professionals at the very top of their industry—no matter how famous they may be—cannot expect immunity once they cross the line; there are absolutely no exceptions.There is no single “correct” answer when it comes to
life’s choices. As bystanders, we have no right to casually judge the ups and downs of others’ lives.
There’s no need to speculate about the paths others take; the most practical attitude toward life is simply to focus on living your own life to the fullest.
