As the Chinese players Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong stood on the podium to receive their gold and silver medals in the men’s singles event respectively, the table tennis competition at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province came to a close on Monday.
With an absolute advantage of six gold medals, the Team China continued to dominate in table tennis, known as the national sport in China. Throughout this over weeklong and grueling competitions, the Chinese table tennis team showcased their exceptional skills and determination, securing victory after victory.
“When the last ball landed, the first thing I recognized about my performance was that it was very good,” Sun Yingsha, world champion and world No.1, said while answering a question from the Global Times during Sunday’s post-match interview.
China won both the gold medals on offer on Sunday, with Sun made to work harder, but followed up with a 4-1 victory over Japan’s Hayata Hina for the women’s singles crown. This is Team China’s seventh consecutive Asian Games women’s table tennis singles gold medal.
In the other competition, world champions Fan and Wang make light work of Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon from South Korea, winning the men’s doubles title 4-0.
However, the day’s slate of finals was far from what many had expected. After all, the men’s doubles title decider was an all-China affair at the past two Asian Games, while China has enjoyed one-two finishes in the women’s singles since Guangzhou 2010.
Earlier in the day, Hayata took out world No.4 Wang Yidi from 4-3 for a place in the final.
When questioned about the pressure the team was feeling, Sun said: “It’s about being able to turn pressure into motivation. I would’ve preferred to meet a team-mate in the final, but Hayata has been in great form.”
Meanwhile, compared with the Jakarta Asian Games held in 2018, the table tennis program set up for the Hangzhou Asian Games has seen adjustments, with the addition of men’s and women’s doubles in addition to the five Olympic events of men’s and women’s teams, men’s and women’s singles and mixed doubles.
On Monday night, South Korea won the women’s doubles gold medal by defeating North Korea in the women’s doubles final.
Earlier, in a shock result, women’s doubles world No. 1s Sun and Wang Manyu lost 1-3 to Japanese duo Miwa Harimoto and Miu Hirano, and their teammates Chen Meng and Wang Yidi were defeated by the same score by Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee from India on Saturday.
Few saw China’s losses in the women’s doubles quarterfinals coming. China has featured on the women’s doubles podium at every edition since Tehran 1974 and China women’s doubles pairs have been world champions since 1989.
“After we lost in the women’s doubles yesterday, my coach and my team-mates offered me a lot of encouragement. Still, I think we must still do a proper review of what happened in the women’s doubles,” Sun said.
For the new table tennis mixed doubles event at the Olympics, Team China locked up the gold and silver medals on Saturday.
After winning the gold medal in the table tennis mixed doubles match, defending champion Wang Chuqin told the Global Times that he and his partner Sun Yin have transitioned from fighting for themselves to winning glory for their country as their strength has grown. Facing the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, they will be even more courageous and determined in the future.
Earlier, in the table tennis team event, the Chinese men’s team bagged their eighth consecutive Asian Games gold medal, while the Chinese women’s team snatched their fifth.
“Being able to fight on home soil gives us a lot of motivation and we will sum up the gains and losses of this tournament and try to win more in the future,” Sun told the Global Times.
