The husband of South Korea table tennis star Jeon Ji-hee has accused the sport’s governing body of damaging his reputation, after it said he “sexually assaulted” a player and banned him for 10 years. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said coach and former Chinese player Xu Ke had been found guilty of “a serious violation of the ITTF Anti-Harassment Policy and Procedures”. Xu, who was ranked as high as world No 129 as a player, denied the allegations and said the ruling was “a serious distortion of the facts”. The world governing body said Xu had “been unresponsive to all requests” to take part in the investigation. A document published by the ITTF Integrity Unit said that in the early hours of January 1, 2021, Xu invited four people, who were all part of a training camp, to his hotel room for drinks to continue New Year’s Eve celebrations. While disputing the findings in a series of statements on social media, Xu said among those present were members of the Korean and Hong Kong table tennis teams. The report said the victim, who was referred to as “the survivor”, wanted to leave Xu’s room when other players decided to end the night, but he convinced her to stay. When the female athlete, whose name and nationality were not revealed by ITTF, eventually returned to her room, Xu used the Chinese messaging app WeChat to ask her for her room number and said he wanted to speak to her in person. She gave him her room number but message transcripts show she repeatedly said she was tired and was going to sleep. The report alleged that Xu knocked on her door and forced his way into the room, where he sexually assaulted her. WeChat messages showed the event occurred after 3.30am. The ITTF ban came into effect on December 17, but was published only on March 6. Jeon, who won women’s team bronze at the Paris Olympics last summer, officially retired from the sport after last month’s Singapore Smash, and the couple are expecting their first child together. In the past several days, the 32-year-old has locked all her social media accounts. On March 9, Xu made a statement disputing the allegations, saying that on the night in question, an American table tennis player asked him about being her coach. He said she later asked him to continue the discussion in her room and he did, but the conversation lasted less than one minute before he left. “I solemnly state that this ruling is a serious distortion of the facts,” Xu said. “There is no physical evidence [such as medical reports and surveillance footage] and no police record of the incidents alleged by ITTF. The so-called ‘investigation’ relies entirely on unilateral statements by the US player.” Xu said the incident took place in Chengdu and he also shared an email he sent to the head of the Integrity Unit, Kevin Carpenter, in August 2022. “I have to repeat that I can’t accept any of your judgments against me because they are utterly ridiculous,” Xu’s email said. On Tuesday, Xu again slammed the ITTF, whom he accused of being “one-sided” and “causing serious damage to my reputation”. The ITTF said: “Despite numerous attempts by the Hearing Panel to involve him [Xu] in the hearing process, [he] was unresponsive to all requests, did not participate in the hearing, and did not make any formal submissions to the panel in defence of himself.” Xu previously coached Jeon. The ITTF report says one person in Xu’s room that night was a player he was coaching. It does not say if that person was Jeon.