Chinese table tennins player and World no. 1 Ma Long. (Photo : Reuters)
The Men's and Women's table tennis teams of China claimed their record 20th world championship title after sweeping both of their Japanese counterparts in the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships at the Malawati Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday.
The Men's team, bannered by highly ranked players Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Zhang Jike conquered all of their Japanese opponents, namely Jun Mizutani, Maharu Yoshimura and Yuya Oshima respectively, to capture the team title in a dominating 3-0 fashion.
Ma and Xu both won in three straight sets against Yoshimura and Mizutani, but 2012 London Olympics gold medalist Zhang, who is well-known for being a slow starter, gave up the first set but still won over Oshima, 3-1, as per Xinhuanet.
The world no. 3 Xu pulled off an 11-6, 11-8 and 11-8 game against world no. 6 Mizutani to give the momentum to China right from the start.
"Mizutani is a very strong player and also one of our main rivals. I just tried to shake off the pressure and to play in a relaxed mood," said the 26-year-old Xu. The Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China native also noted that, overall, Team China is much better then Team Japan this season.
World no. 1 Ma followed with an even better 11-3, 11-8 and 11-6 victory over 22-year-old Yoshimura.
World no. 4 Zhang dropped the first set to Oshima, 9-11, before winning the next three, 11-8, 11-6, and 11-7 to complete the sweep.
Meanwhile, China's Women's team also swept Japan, 3-0, to capture the Marcel Corbillon Cup for the country's third straight title, and 20th overall, with Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia, and Ding Ning plowing through their rivals Ai Fukuhara, Kasumi Ishikawa, and Mima Ito, as reported by the Malay Mail Online.
World no. Liu crushed world no. 4 Fukuhara in straight sets, 11-5, 11-6, and 11-8, but world no. 6 Li encountered difficulty against world no. 5 Ishikawa, who won the first two sets but ultimately gave up the next three, 6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3, and 11-5, to the 2012 London Olympics Women's gold medalist.
Finally, the 25-year-old Ding overpowered 15-year-old Ito in four sets to seal the deal for the Chinese. Ito won the first set, 8-11, before Ding swept the next three, 11-7, 11-8, and 11-1.
