During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese sports professionals were denounced as 'Sprouts of Revisionism' and were denied places at the 1967 World Table Tennis Championships and 1969 World Table Tennis Championships. Players such as Jung Kuo-tuan were persecuted and he committed suicide in 1968. Had China competed in those championships and not lost the impetus gained in the previous decade they would surely have continued to dominate the World Championships.[4][5]
