"I climbed the table and it sank by 0.5cm!" Romanian women's team faces controversy over 'thoughtless celebration' → "It was a headache," organizing committee reveals

*This content was translated by AI.

The Romanian Yeo Ja (CEO) team, which won a medal in the team event at the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time in 26 years, is facing a fierce backlash over a 'reckless celebration' born of victory joy. Players jumped onto the table as a group, causing the playing surface to sink and resulting in equipment damage. The tournament organizing committee later revealed, "It was a serious headache that erupted just before the next match."

The incident occurred shortly after the women's quarterfinals (Round of 8) of the World Table Tennis Championships team event held in London, UK, on the 9th (Korean time). On that day, Romania defeated France 3-1, advancing to the semifinals. Under tournament rules that do not hold a bronze medal match, they secured the bronze medal. It was a historic moment, as the Romanian women's table tennis team climbed onto the podium for the first time in 26 years since the 2000 tournament.

The problem arose immediately after the match point. Unable to contain their excitement, five people, including Romanian players and coaching staff, jumped onto the table in the center of the court and cheered. While it was a celebration expressing the joy of victory, it shocked officials present at the venue.

According to a report by Japanese media D&N on the 18th, the official channel of the England Table Tennis Association, which also served as the tournament organizing committee, recently posted an exposé-style article titled "The moment Romania almost broke the table at the London tournament," conveying the tense on-site situation through an interview with Chris Newton, the tournament operations manager.

Newton stated, "After the players climbed on, one side of the table surface, which should have remained perfectly level, sank by about 0.5cm." The official tournament table is a steel structure weighing approximately 250kg and is built to be extremely sturdy, but it could not withstand the weight and impact of five adults and bent.

What made officials most desperate was 'time.' According to regulations, the next match was scheduled on the same table just 15 minutes later. Even a minute horizontal error in an official table can alter the bounce of the ball, decisively affecting the match result.

The organizing committee immediately went into emergency mode. Although replacing the table with a spare one was considered, it was reported that 14 complex cables, including broadcast microphones and camera cables, were tangled under the table, creating a crisis where the next match could be delayed by up to two hours or more during replacement.

Ultimately, technical staff were urgently deployed to the site and fought a battle. Newton recalled, "It was a precise task requiring the adjustment of four fixing screws and the height of all four legs. We used a spirit level to measure dimensions repeatedly and barely completed the correction before the next match. It was a sweat-inducing task that required tremendous effort."

Fortunately, due to the organizing committee's swift response, there were no disruptions to the tournament operations, but criticism of the Romanian national team's reckless behavior continues unabated. Newton delivered a sharp remark: "While the act of releasing emotions through celebration is truly a wonderful expression, they must understand that such actions can seriously hinder other matches and tournament operations."

Furthermore, the organizing committee added that, in light of this incident, they issued guidelines to International Table Tennis Federation technical executives to "recognize that such 'sudden damage incidents' can occur at any time in all future tournaments of any scale, and to ensure that spare tables capable of immediate replacement are always secured at hotels near the venue."

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*This content was translated by AI.