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 governing body for all national table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the p ...

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

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, 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 player. He paired with Jun Mizutani in men's doubles competitions, the duo won four consecutive national titles from 2007 to 2010. They also won a bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships and two titles at th ...

, Singapore's

Gao Ning Gao Ning (; born 11 October 1982) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. He is considered Singapore's best male player with a world ranking of 34 as of August 2016. He was first in men's singles at the 2007 Commonwealth Tabl ...

, 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, Shanghai) is a retired Mainland Chinese table tennis player. As of January 2014, he is ranked 12th in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He began playing at the age of 6 and was picked for the Ch ...

, with a unanimous set score of 0–4. Few days later, Tan joined the national team, with his fellow players

Andrej Gaćina Andrej Gaćina (born 21 May 1986) is a male table tennis player from Croatia. Since 2007, he has won two medals in doubles and team events in the Table Tennis European Championships. As of August 2016, he was the number nineteenth player in the ...

and six-time Olympic veteran

Zoran Primorac Zoran Primorac (born 10 May 1969) is a retired male table tennis player from Croatia. 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 w ...

, 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 (russian: Дмитрий Овчаров) or Dmytro Ovtcharov ( uk, Дмитро Овчаров; born 2 September 1988) is a Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mikhail (or Mikhaylo), a Soviet table tennis cha ...

), 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 (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

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 com ...

. 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 {{Croatia-tabletennis-bio-stub