Scandal at new trend sport: Defeat is followed by a kick in the face!

Cancún - An incident at a competition in the newfangled sport of "pickleball" is causing a stir onsocial media.

No fair play in "Pickleball": After a defeat, there was a kick in the face.
No fair play in "Pickleball": After a defeat, there was a kick in the face.  © Screenshot/X/@TheKitchenPB

Basically, "pickleball" is like tennis for the poor: in singles or doubles, you face each other, hold a paddle-like racket in your hand and try to hit a round, perforated ball over a net in the middle.

But that's not why the net is currently talking about the tennis knock-off, but rather because of a brutal video from a competition last weekend.

It shows a man called Peter Shonk apparently winning a match together with his doubles partner. An opponent from the opposing team doesn't seem to have taken the defeat quite so well.

When both teams try to shake hands at the net in the style of a sportsman, a scandal ensues: during the handshake, it appears that Shonk - presumably unintentionally - knocks his opponent's racket out of his hand. He immediately leans over the net and tries to pick up the racket again.

At this moment, his bad-tempered opponent kicks him in the face with full force. Shonk slumps to the ground and remains dazed.

Peter Shonk slumps down after the kick.
Peter Shonk slumps down after the kick.  © Screenshot/X/@TheKitchenPB

However, Shonk is now doing well again, according to the video post, which was published by a "Pickleball" community on X. Meanwhile, Shonk was delighted with the huge amount of attention on his Instagram account: "We broke the internet," wrote the man, who lives in Mexico, in his story.