“Cigarette smoking is bad for health.” - a warning you will see on every Cigarette packet. Smoking can cause lung cancer, heart disease and the list goes on.
Please don’t get surprised when I say some of the world’s top table tennis players smoke – the players in the world ranking below top 50. I have seen them smoking at major tournaments. I will not disclose the name of those players, but they are from countries like Serbia, Singapore.
The health is very important for any professional sportsman. The smoking can affect the lungs, and that will lead to performance deterioration. The players are aware of the impact of smoking on their health. But they lack discipline, and continue to smoke.
Some contributing factors to player’ smoking:
The professional table tennis players are under severe pressure in tournaments. It is the pressure that contributes to some of these players to smoke.
The table tennis players travel in very cold countries to attend the tournaments where the temperature is below freezing. I have been to such tournament locations, and have seen the impact of bitter cold on player’s health. The players who are coming from countries where the temperature is warm all the time don’t carry winter jackets with them, and that is bad for them. At a tournament, I felt like donating my winter jacket to a world top table tennis player who was shivering with cold.
Whatever may be the contributing factors, a professional table tennis player should not smoke.
Watch the US Anti-doping video.
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