Li Hu sacked by STTA
Singapore men's No. 2 player dismissed for repeatedly breaching 'house rules'
Singapore's No. 2 male paddler Li Hu has been sacked by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) for "repeated code of conduct breaches".
The world No. 58, who was suspended by the STTA last week for violating house rules, was dismissed following a disciplinary committee meeting last night.
STTA vice-president Lim Soon Hock, who chaired the disciplinary committee, said: "The STTA does not tolerate indiscipline.
"Li Hu's repeated breaches of the code of conduct are a cause of serious concern to the STTA. Despite being verbally warned on several occasions, Li Hu continued to breach the dormitory and house rules.
"His insubordination is unacceptable and is not tolerated.
"It was a unanimous decision by the disciplinary committee to early terminate Li Hu's contract for his repeated code of conduct breaches."
The other members of the disciplinary committee were management committee members Han Ngge Juan and Lee Yan Peng.
The New Paper reported last week that Li, along with a relative, is also assisting the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) with an investigation.
In STTA's media release last night, Li was said to have "displayed insolence, insubordination and continued to violate house rules despite verbal warnings" as well as "other disciplinary issues throughout his employment with the STTA".
INDISCRETION
The association revealed that he was caught on previous occasions bringing a female stranger into the STTA dormitory at Toa Payoh, where he was residing with two other junior players.
His misconduct was captured on CCTV, with footage showing the female stranger visiting late at night regularly and leaving in the mornings, and sometimes during working hours.
Li was given more than one verbal warning for these incidents.
This after he was issued a final warning letter on Jan 18 for another indiscretion and was informed by writing that any further misconduct would result in a termination of his employment.
After breaching the rules again on Oct 14, the STTA gave him the option to resign rather than be terminated, to which Li agreed.
He then claimed he did not know how to write the resignation letter and requested help from the STTA to draft it.
The STTA said it "clearly explained to him that the decision to resign is entirely his alone and the STTA will not make any enforcement".
Li is a Hubei native who came to Singapore in 2010 and became a citizen in 2011. He was the 2003 world junior singles champion and reached a career-high ranking of No. 26 in Jan 2012.
In 2014, he won his biggest title representing Singapore when he teamed up with Gao Ning to bag the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals men's doubles event.
The duo also won a bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games - the Republic's first in the event at the Games.
They also won the Commonwealth Games men's doubles title in Glasgow that year.
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