Paddlers sweep; Zhao snares gold
Print Edition
CHINA completed its sweep of the table tennis gold medals at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday after its men’s team defeated Japan 3-1 in the final.
With the win, the Asian powerhouse has now won 28 out of 32 golds awarded since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988.
The experience and skills of the Chinese team, which included Olympic individual champion Ma Long, singles silver medalist Zhang Jike and world No. 3 Xu Xin, ultimately proved too hard to crack for Japan.
But Japan, which celebrated its first ever medal in the men’s team event, did not settle for silver without a fight.
After Koki Niwa dropped the opening singles match to Ma, Jun Mizutani defeated Xu in a thrilling 3-2 battle of spins and smashes to tie the score at 1-1.
Though Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura and Niwa claimed the first game of their doubles match against Zhang and Xu, they were unable to capitalize and lost 1-3. Captain Ma then wrapped up the win by crushing Yoshimura 11-1, 11-4, 11-4.
Reflecting the charged nature of the evening, China’s team coach Liu Guoliang, who has calmly watched his players with arms folded for most of the Olympics, was on his feet shouting and cheering each point won.
The men’s team final concluded the Olympic’s table tennis program in Rio, where China also won gold for the men’s and women’s singles events and the women’s team event.
Coach Liu, while holding the Chinese flag in celebration, said he had told his players that he was extremely pleased with their performance. “Ma Long has gone unbeaten this Olympics, he has achieved perfection in his Rio journey. Jike has won a gold and silver. Their era has arrived.”
Earlier, Germany beat South Korea to take bronze.
Meanwhile, Kim So-hui of South Korea and China’s Zhao Shuai took the honors on the opening day of the Olympic taekwondo competition.
The 22-year-old Kim, a double world champion, narrowly beat European champion Tijana Bogdanovic of Serbia 7-6 to win the women’s under-49-kilogram gold medal.
Bogdanovic had knocked out two-time defending Olympic champion Wu Jingyu of China.
The bronze medals were won by Patimat Abakorova of Azerbaijan and Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand.
In the men’s under-58kg division, eighth-ranked Zhao outlasted Tawin Hanprab of Thailand 6-4 to claim gold.
The 21-year-old Zhao won a bronze medal at the Asian Championships this year.
The bronze medals were won by Luisito Pie of the Dominican Republic and Kim Tae-hun.
- 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.
