Japan paddlers pull off an upset in mixed doubles
Print Edition
Japanese pair Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito bagged home a historic gold medal in table tennis mixed doubles after upsetting China’s Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen in a seven-set thriller at the Tokyo Olympic Games yesterday.
It was Japan’s first Olympic gold medal in table tennis, after having bagged two silver and two bronze.
The mixed doubles event makes its debut on Olympic stage this time in Tokyo, seeing top two seeds advance to the final as expected.
Reigning world champion Xu and Liu heated quick into the game, going ahead 11-5, 11-7 after two sets. However, the host pair put on a fierce fightback from there, winning 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in the next three sets to turn the tides.
Despite taking away the sixth set 11-6 to force a decider, Xu and Liu could not maintain their momentum afterward, seeing Japanese rivals race ahead 8-0 en route to 11-6.
China’s Chen Meng, the world’s top ranked player, overwhelmed Swiss opponent Rachel Moret in the third round of the women’s singles to move one step closer to gold on her Olympic debut.
Chen beat Moret 4-0 to ease her way into the last 16.
“It was smoother than I imagined. Before the match, I prepared fully. I watched the mixed doubles opening round here to get a feel of everything,” said Chen.
“With each round the opponents will get stronger and stronger. I’m going to treat every match like life or death,” the 27-year-old added.
Nicknamed Da Meng, or “big dream,” Chen said her dream would be “to give my everything to win the women’s singles gold.”
China has won 28 of the 32 gold medals in the sport since it was added to the program at the 1988 Games, including all eight women’s singles titles.
Men’s singles medal favorite Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan had a rough start, including scraping the middle finger on his dominant right hand when hitting a backhand shot during the second game against Chinese Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang.
But Harimoto said it was “a lucky injury” that allowed him to regain his composure. The 18-year-old went on to seal a 4-1 victory.
Elsewhere, 40-year-old veteran Timo Boll came back from losing the first game to Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko to win 4-1.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
