Kong Linghui, the former Olympic table tennis champion, has been suspended as head coach of the Chinese women's team after a luxury Singapore hotel filed a lawsuit against him, claiming gambling debts, the Chinese Table Tennis Association said on Tuesday.

Kong was ordered to immediately return home from the World Championships in Duesseldorf, Germany. An investigation by the association and other officials, according to a statement, described his behavior as a "serious violation" of disciplinary requirements for public officials.

A Singaporean hotel where Kong and his family and friends had stayed in February 2015 filed a lawsuit against him in a Hong Kong court, saying he signed a credit agreement to borrow 4.9 million yuan ($715,000) from the hotel's casino on Feb 19, but failed to pay back the debt in full, leaving over 2.24 million yuan unpaid, Hong Kong media reported on Monday.