Table tennis pro denied tournament prize due to destructive celebration

Ping pong is a game. Table tennis is serious business. Chinese table tennis pro Zhang Jike won the Liebherr World Cup on Sunday, but he didn't win any money.

Ping pong is a game. Table tennis is serious business.

Chinese table tennis pro Zhang Jike won the Liebherr World Cup on Sunday, but he didn't win any money. After the championship-clinching point, Jike kicked the advertising signage in celebration. He also took off his shirt and threw it into the crowd, where two grown men had a really lame struggle to secure it.

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The tournament's organizers did not take kindly to Jike's emphatic celebration and decided not to award him his $45,000 prize.

Jike's actions would be excessive if he was celebrating a victory in his friend's basement, but with 45 grand on the line, it's pretty understandable.

- Dan Gartland

[via FTW]