Why me? Racket saga as Wang advances with Sun at table tennis worlds

Wang Chuqin changed his racket after his "weapon" was allegedly mishandled, and went on to win a mixed doubles game with Sun Yingsha at the World Table Tennis Championships on Monday.

Minutes before the Chinese duo took on Brazil's pair of Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi in the second round, Wang found part of rubber had come off his blade, and China coach Xiao Zhan questioned the umpire. The umpire answered that no one had intentionally torn the rubber and allowed Wang to use his backup racket.

Wang complained in a Migu TV interview that something bad always happened to him in major international events including the Paris Olympics, without elaborating further.

In Paris, photographers rushed to capture the moment Wang and Sun won Olympic gold and in the process accidentally broke Wang's racket - a crucial piece of equipment needed for his singles match the following night - leaving him in disbelief and needing to be calmed by his coach.

Monday's game went well, as the Olympic gold medalists and two-time defending world champions in the event cruised over World Cup holder Calderano and Takahashi 11-2, 11-7, 11-4.

Wang and Sun asked for a video replay and successfully challenged an edge call which had gone in Brazil's favor at the beginning of the second set.

"Our teamwork is getting better," said Sun, who had not paired up with Wang in a few months leading to the Doha championships.

Earlier in the day, Wang and Sun had gone their separate ways to dispose of their respective singles rivals.

Second-seeded Wang never looked troubled as he defeated Brazil's 77th-ranked Leonardo Ilzuka with a performance of clinical precision, winning his second round game 11-3, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 over 24 minutes.

Minutes later, world No. 1 Sun took to the court against Pyon Song Gyong from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Despite facing resistence in the third set, the 24-year-old wrapped the game up 11-2, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 over 30 minutes.

England's Tom Jarvis picked up a great win in the men's singles second round, stunning 10th-seeded German Qiu Dang in full sets (11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 1-11, 6-11, 11-8).

China's fifth seed Liang Jingkun moved up with a 4-1 victory over Portugal's Joao Geraldo, while France's sixth-seeded Felix Lebrun rolled over India's Manush Shan in straight sets.

In the women's singles second round, fourth-seeded Wang Yidi of China, No. 9 Shin Yu-bin of South Korea and China's No. 10 Shi Xunyao all made it to next round.

The biggest surprise came in the women's doubles as China's third seeds Qian Tianyi and Chen Xingtong fell at the hands of Germany's Sabine Winter and Uiam Wam.