Table China achieve golden sweep with women's team victory

PARIS: China extended its dominance in table tennis by winning the Olympic women's team event on Saturday (Aug 10), achieving a gold medal sweep for the country in the sport in Paris after the disappointment of dropping one in Tokyo.

China has now won 37 of the 42 golds since table tennis was introduced to the Summer Olympics in 1988.

In a repeat of the team event final three years ago in Tokyo, China faced Japan once again and triumphed 3-0, this time overcoming greater resistance and showcasing their comeback prowess in key moments.

Despite the scoreline, the victory in Paris seemed harder earned. China's Chen Meng and Wang Manyu were tested from the start as they narrowly lost the first game to Japan's Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto. The Chinese fought back to take two of the next three games and send the match to a decider.

The Japanese pair built up a 9-5 lead but Chen and Wang adjusted their tactics and levelled at 10-10 before closing out victory.

Hayata, who has been bothered by a wrist injury since the singles semi-finals, said she was not able to play to the best of her ability.

The Chinese players also got emotional, with Wang moved to tears after the victory.

"I felt that today's doubles match was incredibly difficult for both of us. That kind of difficulty is something that only the two of us on the court could truly feel," said Wang's partner Chen, who has now finished her second Olympics with a total of four gold medals.

"But I believe that we could also sense that, no matter how tough it was, we both had great trust in each other."

China's Sun Yingsha also had her own comeback in the first game against Japan's Miu Hirano, who at one point was leading 1-7. The huge gap that would usually spell the end of an 11-point