Tan Ruiwu (born 30 June 1983) is a Croatian table tennis player of Chinese origin. As of December 2012, he is ranked no. 48 in the world by the

International Table Tennis Federation The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the Sport governing body, governing body for all national table tennis associations that use ITTF-approved sponge table tennis rackets. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regula ...

(ITTF). He is also left-handed, and uses the shakehand grip. Tan represented his adopted nation

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, where he competed for the singles and team events. In his first event, men's singles, Tan received two byes in the preliminary rounds, before defeating Japan's

Seiya Kishikawa is a male Japanese table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. ...

, Singapore's

Gao Ning Gao Ning (; born 11 October 1982) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. He is currently appointed as the Singapore Table Tennis National Coach for men. He is considered Singapore's best male player with a world ranking of 3 ...

, and Hong Kong's Li Ching. He reached the quarterfinal round of the competition, where he lost to China's

Wang Liqin Wang Liqin (; born June 18, 1978) is a Chinese table tennis player. He began playing at the age of 6 and was picked for the Chinese men's national squad in 1993 when he was only 15 years old. He holds three majors (3 World Championships). He ha ...

, with a unanimous set score of 0–4. Few days later, Tan joined the national team, with his fellow players Andrej Gaćina and six-time Olympic veteran

Zoran Primorac Zoran Primorac (born 10 May 1969) is a retired Croatian table tennis player. He is a two-time winner of the World Cup and one of only three table tennis players to have competed at seven Olympic Games. His highest ITTF world ranking was number ...

, for the inaugural men's team event. He and his team placed second in the preliminary pool, with two victories and a single defeat from the German team (led by

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Dimitrij Ovtcharov () or Dmytro Ovtcharov (; born 2 September 1988) is a Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mikhail (or Mikhaylo), a Soviet table tennis champion in 1982, moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was ...

), but was offered a second chance for the bronze medal by entering the playoffs. Tan and his team, however, lost their first playoff to the Austrian team, with a set score of 1–3.

2020 Superleague incident in Dubrovnik

During the Tennis Superleague match held in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

on 15 February 2020, fans of the opposing team began insulting Tan Ruiwu, referring to him as the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

. Even the manager used such expressions. On 17 February 2020, the team apologized and all racist comments were deleted afterwards

References

External links

* ** ** * * * 1983 births Living people Croatian male table tennis players Croatian people of Chinese descent Chinese male table tennis players Olympic table tennis players for Croatia Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players from Shenyang Naturalised table tennis players Chinese emigrants to Croatia Naturalized citizens of Croatia 21st-century Croatian sportsmen {{Croatia-tabletennis-bio-stub