RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – China continued to show why they are the goliath of table tennis yesterday with a dominant win over Germany to take the women’s team gold, the champions dropping only one game in the final.
In a 3-0 whitewash that lasted just one-and-a-half hours, China’s Li Xiaoxia and Liu Shiwen utilised booming smashes and prodigious spin shots to overcome Han Ying and Petrissa Solja of Germany without dropping a game in the opening singles matches.
Germany showed a little resistance in the doubles match when they took the third game but Liu and her partner Ding Ning soon regained control to complete a resounding victory.
“Losing that game made the competition more anxious and exciting…But of course I didn’t want to lose any game,” Liu said.
“I’d admit I was anxious to win the match and the gold medal but we also had to allow our opponent to participate in a gold medal match. We eventually won so I’m very happy anyway,” she said. Despite the lop-sided manner of the defeat, the silver represents the best ever result for Germany in women’s table tennis after the country had failed to win a medal of any kind until they defeated Japan in a four-hour marathon in the semis.
“The fact that we won one game makes us happy”, said Germany’s Han. “Skills-wise the gap between us and China is simply too big, so this is the first time I’ve not felt pressure while playing a match, it was just about enjoying table tennis,” she said.
