I am Chinese, insists table tennis queen Deng Yaping as she posts photos of her and France-born son’s passports
- Four-time Olympic gold medallist responds to persistent rumours about her nationality and that of her son, who is a promising player
- ‘We are proud as Chinese and proud to be fighting for our country,’ she says
The former table tennis champion Deng Yaping has posted photographs of her and her son’s Chinese passports on social media to try to put a stop to years of questions about their nationality.
In a post on Sunday on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, Deng said she wanted to dispel a long-standing rumour about their status.
“I hereby declare that I and my son Lin Haoming have always been Chinese nationals. Even though he was born in France, he got a Chinese passport as soon as he was born,” she wrote. “We are proud as Chinese and proud to be fighting for our country.”
She included photos of her passport and that of her son, along with their French visas, which show that they are not French citizens.
Regarded as one of the greatest table tennis players, Deng won six world championship titles and four Olympic gold medals between 1989 and 1997, before retiring from the sport and completing a doctorate at Cambridge.
She and her husband Lin Zhigang – also a table tennis player – had their son in 2006, in Paris – prompting questions about the family.