Player Shoves Umpire

[Nebulous]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/21/youth-table-tennis-shove_n_6194182.html

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns5_qNBxXTA

Somebody needs a lesson in sportsmanship.

In a shocking twist to a youth table tennis tournament in Russia, a competitor shoved the umpire out of his chair and onto the floor.

Footage from the match shows the boys shaking hands at what appears to be the end of the game; suddenly, one of the competitors, identified as Dmitry Melnichenko, pulls a move that would "make John McEnroe blush," as For The Win put it.

Alex Lomaev, the poster of the video who is also the press officer for the Table Tennis Federation of Russia, told The Huffington Post that the Nov. 16 incident was being investigated. Lomaev said that the players, born in 2001, were competing in the "cadet" class of the Kalashnikov Tournament, named for Russian weapons inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov.

On a YouTube thread, Lomaev suggested Melnichenko may have been acting out because he had been penalized earlier for throwing his paddle and delaying the game.

Thoughts?

 

[Jazzy]

The kid needs to be banned from playing in the table tennis tournament. Period...end of story.

 

[DrLeftover]

I'm more surprised that this story did not take place in the US.