China consolidated its supremacy in table tennis Monday by whitewashing Germany to take gold in the Olympic men's table tennis team event.
The Chinese paddlers made short work of their German rivals with a 3-0 victory in less than an hour and a half.
South Korea took the bronze in an earlier match.
Monday's win came as no surprise to many. Since the 1959 World Championships, China has boasted an all-time winning record against Germany, including the 2004 World Championships final where it took the title after three straight matches.
China's table tennis head coach Liu Guoliang (second from right) is garlanded with gold medals by Wang Liqin (left), Wang Hao (second from left) and Ma Lin after the Chinese won the men's team event August 18 2008. [China Daily] |
This year sees the first Olympic team competition which takes the format of a best of five matches, including a doubles match.
China's World No 1 paddler Wang Hao took a comfortable lead by beating Germany's 20 year-old rising star Dimitrij Ovtcharov 11-4, 11-8, 11-4. They had met only once before the match, at the 2005 Japan Open, where Wang beat the German in four straight sets.
The second face-off Monday saw Germany dispatching its best player, world No 6 Timo Boll, to battle China's Ma Lin. Boll is the only foreign paddler who has in recent years beaten three top Chinese players -- Wang Hao, Ma and Wang Liqin.
After losing the first set 7-11, Boll took a 7-1 lead and won 11-8. Ma fought back to take the rest of the game 11-4, 11-7.
After their team eased into a 2-0 lead, Chinese players Wang Hao and Wang Liqin defeated Christian Suss and Boll 3-1 in the men's doubles, after losing the first set 11-13.
With their gold confirmed, Chinese head coach Liu Guoliang and his three players hugged each other, bursting into tears. The players later garlanded Liu with their gold medals.
"This team title is the most important gold medal among all others. We were determined to retain the title on home soil and the players did very well tonight," Liu said after the match.
Ruling the sport for years, China aims to sweep all the four titles at stake. At the 2004 Athens Games, the Chinese men's team lost the singles title to South Korea.
"We have completed half of our mission," Liu said. "We need to keep a sober mind and get ready to face more difficult singles matches."
Germany also achieved its second Olympic silver medal in the sport since Steffen Fetzner and Jorg Rosskopt finished second in the men's doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
"Our team did all they could but China played very a powerful game and we could not play out our strengths. They really deserve the victory," German head coach Richard Prause said.
"We are looking forward to the next Olympic Games."