India's table tennis coach Yin Wei returns home amid anti-China sentiment

Indian table tennis developmental coach, China’s Yin Wei, along with his wife has returned home ‘on leave’. Reports suggest that apart from the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in India and the anti-China sentiment in the country following the border standoff has largely influenced the veteran coach’s decision.

Wei and his wife left for China last month on a special flight arranged by the Chinese Embassy as part of Beijing’s efforts to repatriate its citizens who want to come back home.

The coach before leaving didn't mention to the Table Tennis Federation of India a date of return, meaning he won’t be available for the national camp proposed to be held in Bengaluru in October.

According to Times of India, the coach had been planning to visit his country for some time after a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in Kolkata and elsewhere in India. However, the growing border tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the resultant anti-China sentiment forced him to leave immediately. Sources said the coach might not return until the tense diplomatic situation eases out and flight services resume between the two nations.

According to a senior TTFI official, Sports Authority of India renewed Wei’s contract for a year in July and the coach was drawing a monthly salary of $3500. The official also said that the federation would honour whatever decision the authorities take on the coach.

“We can’t do much in such circumstances. There’s a lot of anti-China sentiment and things aren’t the same anymore. As a federation which believes in country-first, we will abide by whatever the government suggests to us.”

He has gone back to China on leave, let’s see what happens next. We, as a federation, are with the country and will do whatever best suits the nation,” the official added.

Wei and his wife spent the lockdown period at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) ‘National TT Academy’ in Kolkata.

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