RIO DE JANEIRO China completed their sweep of the table tennis gold medals at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday after their men’s team defeated Japan 3-1 in the final.
Advertisement
In match one, Long Ma of China would win all three games, winning 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 over Japan representative Koki Niwa.
Elsewhere in the women’s K1 500 event, Team GB’s Rachel Cawthorn put in two strong performances but her sixth place in the semi-finals means she will miss out on the A final and race the B final instead.
China has won its 28th gold medal since the sport was introduced at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
“Ma Long is in top form at the moment and for us to win gold, we had to avoid Mizutani playing him so he has a chance of winning twice and then pray that Yoshimura and Niwa win the doubles”, Kurashima said.
Once, twice, three times Mizutani responded, however, taking the game to deuce and then converting a match point of his own for a thrilling 10-12, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 10-12 victory.
“I feel very happy because the process didn’t go so smoothly tonight, so when we finally won it was heavier – this team gold medal feels a lot heavier than the singles gold medal I won”, Ma admitted afterwards.
The Chinese women’s team coach, Kong Linghui, also spoke of the strength of their Japanese opponents, saying that their early exposure to such high-level global competitions at a young age would likely help them become an even tougher force to be reckoned with in four years. China’s dominance in table tennis will look to continue heading into the Tokyo games in 2020. China has won the last eight men’s world team championships.
“The fact we lost to China may even be more valuable to us than the medal itself”.
The 27-year-old and Lois Toulson placed fifth in the women’s 10m synchro final the day after Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow started the medal rush with bronze in the men’s equivalent. It won’t be easy with China being as good as they are.
Advertisement
In a see-saw match that finished well past midnight in front of a typically hostile home crowd, China ended the day on a high, edging reigning champions Brazil 15-13 in a tight final set, and now face the Netherlands in the semifinals.
