china's 25-year-old world no1, wang hao, has finally been deemed old enough to have a girlfriend by chinese table tennis officials, according to local media.
the men's singles world champion fell foul of the administration's rules on romantic liaisons five years ago when he started going out with fellow national team player fan ying.
in a move that dismayed women's rights activists but was perhaps more about their relative world rankings, wang was not punished but 17-year-old fan was dismissed from the national team and sent back to her province.
with a world title and two olympic silver medals under his belt, however, wang's new relationship with former national champion peng luyang has been given the seal of approval by national team manager huang biao.
"we never forbid a player having a girlfriend as long as he meets the age requirement," huang told chengdu business daily newspaper. "as for the relationships between players, we do not advocate them but we do not oppose them either.
"wang is 26 and lu is 23. it is normal to have a love affair at this age," huang added, using the traditional chinese method of calculating age that makes children one year old at birth.it is possible that table tennis officials, among the most conservative in china's state sports system, now believe a long-term relationship with peng will prove a stabilising influence on wang.
last october, he was offered counselling after an altercation with a karaoke club security guard.
domestic media, quoting witnesses, said wang had shouted: "i am the famous wang hao! i am the world champion! does it matter if i beat you?"
table tennis officials played down the incident saying there had been no brawling and that the story had been amplified because of wang's celebrity status in table tennis-mad china.
wang's former girlfriend fan, who was reduced to tears by her exile from the national team, has since returned and is currently ranked 19th in the world in women's singles.
根据当地媒体报道，现排名世界第一的中国25岁乒乓球运动员王皓，终于被中国的乒乓球官员裁定，他已经到了谈对象的年龄了。
5年前，这位男子单打世界冠军开始与国家队队友范瑛约会，此举违反了国家队禁止谈队员恋爱的规定。
王皓并没有受到惩处，但17岁的范瑛却被从国家队除名，遣返回省队，这项令女权活动家感到惊愕的决定，或许更多的是与他们各自的世界排名有关。
然而，已获得一项世界冠军和两枚奥运银牌的王皓，与前全国冠军彭陆洋的新恋情，已经获得中国乒乓球队领队黄飚的批准。
黄飚向《成都商报》表示：“我们从来没有禁止过队员之间谈恋爱，但是对年龄是有要求的。对于队员之间谈恋爱的现象，我们本着不主张、不提倡，但同时也不反对的原则。”
“王皓今年26岁了，彭陆洋也23岁了，这样的年龄谈恋爱很正常。”黄飚补充说。他使用的是中国计算年龄的传统方法：小孩在出生时就算一岁。现在，堪称中国国家体育系统中最为保守的乒乓球官员可能已经相信，与彭陆洋建立长期关系会对王皓产生稳定作用。
去年10月，在与一位卡拉ok俱乐部保安发生争执之后，王皓接受了心理咨询。
中国国内媒体援引目击者的话称，王皓当时叫嚷道：“我就是著名的王皓！我是世界冠军！打你能怎么着？”
乒乓官员淡化处理了这起事件，称他们并没有发生争吵，这个故事之所以被夸大，是因为王皓在极其狂热乒乓球的中国的明星地位。
在被开除国家队时曾泪流满面的王皓前女友范瑛，已经重返国家队，她当前的单打排名位居世界19位。