A South Korean tennis player smashed his racket after losing to a Thai athlete ranked more than 500 places below him at the Asian Games in China on Monday.

Kwon Soon-woo, 25, destroyed his tennis racket in an embarrassing meltdown following his defeat to Thailand's Samrej Kasidit, 22, at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China, on September 25.

Footage shows the furious athlete beating the racket against the court as the crowd jeered at him from the sidelines.

Samrej, who is World No. 636, was seen approaching him for a handshake after the match, but he was ignored by the Korean in a show of unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Kwon, was placed 112 in the world rankings and ranked fourth in the Asian Games, lost the second match round and with it, his shot at the Asia men's tennis singles gold medal.

He is still in the running for the men's doubles gold with his teammate, Hong Seong-chan.