World No 1 Ding Ning forgets her shorts to the delight of Chinese fans: ‘I lost face in front of an international audience!’
- The world champion’s WeChat account is flooded with comments about her wardrobe incident after her opening world championships match
Red-faced Chinese table tennis star Ding Ning became a social media phenomenon in the mainland after she forgot to wear shorts for her first-round match at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
World No 1 Ding was warming up against Egypt’s Yousra Helmi wearing her red shirt and skin-tight undershorts. An embarrassed Ding realised her predicament after a few rallies and ran away from the table but quickly returned wearing her regular shorts over the undergarment.
The three-time world singles champion and 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist was hoping the matter would simply go away but soon after her 4-0 victory she knew there was no getting away from it.
Her WeChat account was flooded with comments from friends and fans, including a video clip of the incident.
When asked during a television interview if she had seen the video, a smiling Ding replied: “How can I not see it? All the people are sending it to me on WeChat.