There was outrage on social media on Thursday after a Weibo user posted photos of Chinese badminton superstar Lin Dan with a ‘mystery woman’ just days after the badminton star’s wife gave birth to their first child. Lin Dan has shocked his fans by admitting to the affair while his wife was pregnant.
A user who goes by the alias ‘Detective Zhao’ released the alleged pictures and gifs that showed the two-time Olympic champion with a woman in October.
Internet users quickly identified her as Zhao Yaqi, who is a model and an actress.The post was the top trending topic and had more than 200,000 reports and 40,000 comments on Weibo.
Lin’s wife Xie Xingfang, who is a former badminton star herself, gave birth to their first child on November 5.
Later on Thursday Lin Dan, however, confirmed the rumours and apologised on Weibo, “As a man, I won’t make any more excuse for what I have done. But my behaviour has already hurt my family and I would like to apologise to them. Sorry.”
According to BBC his brother Cheng Hao Chen also reacted to the incident saying, “Brother, do you know that you were the pride of 1.3 billion Chinese people? How about now?"
After the pictures emerged, another user, Duo Duo Wa Bai Cai, said, "A shameless mistake has sent you to hell from heaven.”
Despite the allegations, we can’t forget how great Lin’s contribution been to the badminton world. Nicknamed Super Dan, he was the former world number one and is now currently ranked third,
Lin’s coach Li Yongbo who is in Fuzhou for the China Open, however, said Lin was still on leave and he had no clue about the story until he saw it in the news.
Lin, aged 33, is one of China’s biggest sporting stars, having won the Badminton World Championships five times.
He also won the ‘Super Grand Slam’ of all nine of the sport’s major titles by the age of 28 and was the first player ever to retain Olympic gold when he followed up his Beijing 2008 medal win with the title at London 2012.
