"Poor Manners"... Chinese Player Pretends to Shout Encouragement but Actually Swears Throughout Match Against Korea

On the 31st of last month, at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo, the women's doubles badminton semifinal match of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics took place, featuring China's Chen Qingchen (left) and Jia Yifan (right). Photo by AFP, Yonhap News.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] It has recently come to light that a Chinese player verbally abused a South Korean player during the badminton matches at the Tokyo Olympics, sparking controversy.

On the 27th of last month, in the third match of Group D in the women's doubles badminton group stage at the Tokyo Olympics, South Korea's Kim Soyoung-Kong Heeyoung pair faced China's Chen Qingchen-Zhai Pan pair. During the match, China's Chen Qingchen (24) repeatedly shouted loud kiai sounds.

The meaning of Chen Qingchen's shouted kiai was a severe insult, which caused a strong backlash in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan after they understood it, and the issue was brought to public attention in South Korea. Netizens from Hong Kong and Taiwan reacted with comments such as "Annoyed by such poor manners," "Unbearable. This player is ignorant, disrespectful to others, and full of aggression," and "This is an excessive provocation," expressing their opposition.

On the other hand, Chinese netizens defended Chen Qingchen, claiming that the shouted kiai meant "Watch out," a considerate warning to the opponent to be careful. They also responded with remarks like "Beautiful Chinese language," "Proud. She is a hero," and "The whole world has heard the greatness of the Chinese language." The video of Chen Qingchen was shared over 100,000 times on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

As the controversy escalated, Chen Qingchen apologized through her social networking service (SNS), saying, "Sorry for the misunderstanding," and explained, "It was a phrase to encourage myself to win. I think the misunderstanding happened because of my poor pronunciation."

In the match where the controversial insult occurred, China defeated South Korea and advanced to the finals but lost to badminton powerhouse Indonesia 21-19, 21-15 on the 2nd, earning the silver medal. Chen Qingchen, who faced South Korean players again in the semifinals, reportedly shouted similar words at that time as well. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has not set clear standards regarding verbal abuse during matches.