China won its third gold medal of the world table
tennis championships when defending champion Zhang Yining beat
compatriot
Guo Yan in the women's singles final on Thursday.
China took the men's doubles gold earlier in the day and the mixed
doubles title on Wednesday.
Zhang, the world No. 1 and Olympic champion, beat Guo, the world No. 8,
5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 13-11.
Guo saved one match point when she trailed 10-9 in the final game,
clawing back to 10-10 and 11-10, but the 21-year-old was unable to clinch
victory from the composed Zhang.
The match was played in front of a buoyant home crowd, who could relax
knowing that the gold medal was guaranteed for China.
China took the men's doubles title when Wang Hao and Kong Linghui beat
Timo Boll and Christian Suess of Germany 11-9, 11-3, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6.
"It went very smoothly and the key strategy was winning the first set,"
Kong said. "They weren't able to come up with any way of handling us."
The silver claimed by the German pair, 24-year-old Boll and 19-year-old
Suess, was the first European medal of the week-long tournament.
"Obviously we are disappointed," said Boll. "But I think we will soon
realise our silver medal was a great achievement."
China, seeking a clean sweep of all five gold medals, won its first on
Wednesday when Wang Liqin and Guo Yue beat compatriots Liu Guozheng and
Bai Yang in the mixed doubles final.
The Chinese team won all the gold medals at last year's Olympics in
Athens apart from the most sought after, the men's singles.
The men's singles semi-finals take place on Friday, with China's Wang
Liqin playing Oh Sang Eun of South Korea and Ma Lin of China facing
Denmark's Michael Maze. "It would certainly be great to sweep all five
events," said China's head coach Cai Zhenhua.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-06 09:01
