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It’s the Olympics. Can’t everyone just play nice?
Taiwan scored its first gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Sunday (Aug 4) when Wang Chilin and Lee Yang defeated China Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in the badminton men’s doubles finals.
While people across Taiwan erupted in celebration, the mood across China was sombre.
According to media reports, China’s national broadcaster CCTV quickly cut the live telecast of the match, censoring the medal ceremony and audience celebrations by switching over to men’s gymnastics.
Why so salty?
It was also calculated that only 40 minutes of the 76-minute match were aired to Chinese viewers as CCTV omitted parts of the match when Taiwan was winning, especially when spectators shouted “Taiwan!” each time their team scored a point.
Hong Kong’s media reported that Chilin and Lee Yang won the gold medal but did not state the territory they represented.
However, this has not stopped Internet trolls from reacting with hostility towards China walking away with a silver medal.
Many wrote that “losing to Taiwan is a disgrace” while others proclaimed it as “a shameful day for Chinese badminton”.
This isn’t the first time China has censored their loss to Taiwan.
At the Tokyo Games, China also reportedly did the same, stopping the broadcast of the medal ceremony to avoid Taiwan’s national anthem.
Due to a 1981 agreement, Taiwan has had to participate as Chinese Taipei and can only compete using a non-political flag, and without a national anthem.
Photos: Mediacorp, leeyang0812/IG, chilinwang/IG
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