A wonderful match between Chinese player Liang Jingkun and his British counterpart Liam Pitchford, as they battled each other for a place in the men's singles quarter-finals of the ongoing World Table Tennis Championships at Houston, Texas, on Saturday, was marred by what looked like racist taunts from the spectators.

It was otherwise a wonderful match, their scores going back and forth till Liang narrowly won, 4-3. But from the moment it appeared that Liang would win, he was subjected to taunts. Some spectators began shouting "yellow banana, yellow" as soon as Liam started eating a banana during a break.

On Sunday, the International Table Tennis Federation issued a statement on its official micro blog saying racism is intolerable. "ITTF is against racism" was later displayed prominently on a screen at the venue.

Racism remains a big problem in the United States, a country founded by immigrants where many continue to look at people of color as inferior races, just as their colonial ancestors did centuries ago. Maybe they still cannot accept a person of color competing, let alone winning, against a white person.

In the recent past, an increasing number of Asians have been victims of racial discrimination. After the "Black Lives Matter" movement erupted after a policeman in Minneapolis suffocated George Floyd to death last year, more and more Asians have been targeted by racists.

That Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations have bad-mouthed China to cover their own failures in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic has made it worse for Asians.

Racism had now widened the chasm between ethnic groups in the US, increasing the fear among colored people.

As apparent from the racist taunts against some players during the ongoing table tennis championship, even international sports events need to be purged of racism.