SHANGHAI, 6 May 2005 — China’s gold medal tally at the world table tennis championships reached three yesterday as the host nation stayed on course for a sweep of all five titles.
China’s third gold was claimed by defending champion and world number one Zhang Yining who beat compatriot Guo Yan in the women’s singles final 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 13-11.
The host nation also won the men’s doubles earlier in the day and the mixed doubles on Wednesday. Wang Hao and Kong Linghui won the men’s doubles with a comfortable 11-9, 11-3, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6 win over Timo Boll and Christian Suess of Germany.
“It went very smoothly and the key strategy was winning the first set,” Kong said. The young German pair had the consolation of becoming the first European medalists of the tournament. “Obviously we are disappointed,” Boll said. “But I think we will soon realize our silver medal was a great achievement.”
China also has three pairs in the women’s doubles semifinals and two of the men’s singles semifinalists today.
The Chinese team won all the gold medals at last year’s Olympics in Athens apart from the men’s singles, the most prestigious.
The only two players standing in the way of China winning the most coveted gold medal are Oh Sang Eun of Korea, ranked 25th in the world, who plays world number one Wang Liqin, and Denmark’s Michael “Amazing” Maze.
Maze produced an incredible fightback in his quarterfinal against China’s Hao Shuai yesterday, recovering from three sets down to win the most dramatic match of the tournament 5-11, 8-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
The men’s singles final today will be the last match of the week-long tournament.
