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Just like the women's tournament, the men's team table tennis event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro featured mostly chalk results, with the top four seeds each reaching the semifinal round. China and Japan won those high-profile matches to set up Wednesday's battle for the gold medal.
Meanwhile, Germany and South Korea were left to fight for bronze after losing in the semifinals. The Germans have been a constant contender since the team format debuted at the Beijing Games in 2008, reaching the medal round all three times.
Let's check out the results from the final day of competition in table tennis, which will be updated after the gold-medal match. That's followed by a look at the medal count and a recap of the action.
| Medal | Matchup | Result/Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | (2) Germany vs. (3) South Korea | 3-1 GER |
| Gold | (1) China vs. (4) Japan | 3-1 CHN |
| Match | Germany | South Korea | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bastian Steger | Jeoung Youngsik | 3-2 KOR |
| 2 | Dimitrij Ovtcharov | Joo Saehyuk | 3-2 GER |
| 3 | Timo Boll & Bastian Steger | Jeoung Youngsik & Lee Sangsu | 3-2 GER |
| 4 | Timo Boll | Joo Saehyuk | 3-0 GER |
Jeoung Youngsik and Bastian Steger started the fixture in thrilling fashion with a highly competitive five-set encounter. Two of the five games went to deuce, including the deciding game, and in the end, it was Jeoung who picked up a hard-fought point for South Korea.
Table Tennis Daily commented on the terrific opening clash:
Not to be outdone, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Joo Saehyuk put together five entertaining games of their own. The German raced out to a 2-0 lead, but Joo fought back to level the match. Ovtcharov bounced back nicely with an 11-6 win in the fifth to ensure the point didn't slip away from Germany, though.
ITTF World passed along a snapshot of the Germany star after the win:
Steger and Timo Boll gave the Germans their first lead of the match with a five-set win in the doubles competition over Jeoung and Lee Sangsu. It was another close battle with three of the five games won by a 11-9 score.
Boll stayed out for Germany with an opportunity to close out the match, and he did exactly that. The 35-year-old veteran scored the fixture's only routine victory, as the former No. 1 player in the world scored a 3-0 win over Joo to secure the bronze medal.
Longtime Irish table tennis star John Murphy provided his thoughts on the hard-fought duel:
All told, the fixture truly could have gone either way. South Korea had chances in both the second and third matches to take control and potentially even win in a sweep. Instead, Germany came up big in the clutch in order to turn the tables in its favor and land on the podium.
| Match | China | Japan | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ma Long | Koki Niwa | 3-0 CHN |
| 2 | Xin Xu | Jun Mizutani | 3-2 JPN |
| 3 | Jike Zhang & Xin Xu | Maharu Yoshimura & Koki Niwa | 3-1 CHN |
| 4 | Ma Long | Maharu Yoshimura | 3-0 CHN |
Singles gold medalist Ma Long led China to a team gold, winning two of his nation's three matches during Wednesday's match against Japan.
The man he beat in those singles finals, Jike Zhang, was right next to him as China has won its second-straight team gold at theh Olympics.
Long first defeated Japan's Koki Niwa in three games to initially give China the lead before Xin Xu lost to single's bronze medalist Jun Mizutani in five games.
Xu and Zhang teamed up in the doubles portion of the final to regain China's advantage in four games before Long closed things out against Yoshimura
Surprises were few and far between during the women's team table tennis event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Each of the top four seeds reached the semifinals, which were won by China and Germany, with China losing just a single game en route to the final.
Meanwhile, Japan and Singapore played for the bronze medal after coming up short in the semis. It represented a similar medal round to the 2012 London Games, when China defeated Japan for gold, and Singapore edged South Korea for bronze.
Let's check out the results from Tuesday's play, which will be updated following the conclusion of the gold-medal match. That's followed by a look at the medal table and a recap of the action.
| Medal | Matchup | Result/Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | (2) Japan vs. (4) Singapore | 3-1 JPN |
| Gold | (1) China vs. (3) Germany | 3-0 CHN |
| Match | Japan | Singapore | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ai Fukuhara | Yu Mengyu | 3-2 SIN |
| 2 | Kasumi Ishikawa | Feng Tianwei | 3-0 JPN |
| 3 | Ai Fukuhara & Mima Ito | Yu Mengyu & Zhou Yihan | 3-1 JPN |
| 4 | Mima Ito | Feng Tianwei | 3-0 JPN |
Singapore's Yu Mengyu and Japan's Ai Fukuhara set the stage for a highly competitive match with a hard-fought opening fixture. Yu dropped the first game, but she fought back to win three of the next four, including an 11-5 final game, to give her side the early advantage.
The Straits Times Sports Desk spotlighted the topsy-turvy battle:
Kasumi Ishikawa, Japan's top-ranked player at No. 6 in the world, got her side back to level by winning three straight games over Feng Tianwei. She nearly let the first game slip away after building an early lead, but she held on for a 12-10 victory and then won the next two in routine fashion.
ITTF World provided further details about the end of the third set:
Japan moved into the lead with a triumph in the doubles match. Fukuhara and Mima Ito split the first two games with the tandem of Yu and Zhou Yihan before scoring a dominant 11-1 victory in Game 3. They closed it out with a pressure-packed 14-12 win.
Jack Board of Channel News Asia passed along a snapshot of the action:
Ito, who's just 15 years old, showed nerves of steel to clinch the victory. The budding superstar took down Feng, the fourth-ranked player in the world, in three straight games to announce her presence loud and clear on the global stage.
Board highlighted the celebration by Team Japan:
Ultimately, the Japanese group would have loved to get another crack at China after losing in the gold-medal match four years ago. Taking home bronze is a nice consolation prize, however, especially after falling behind early in the match.
Ito was particularly impressive in her two fixtures to complete the victory. It would be a surprise if she's not a top medal contender in singles by the time the 2020 Tokyo Games roll around in her home nation.
| Match | Matchup | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Li Xiaoxia vs. Han Ying | 3-0 |
| 2 | Liu Shiwen vs. Petrissa Solja | 3-0 |
| 3 | Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen vs. Petrissa Solja/Shan Xiaona | 3-1 |
China maintained its stranglehold on table tennis superiority on Tuesday night when it dispatched Germany, 3-0, in the team final to secure gold.
The gold medal marked China's third straight since the team event was introduced at the 2008 Olympics in London, according to Sports-Reference.com. As for Germany, the silver medal represents the first medal of any kind for the country in team table tennis.
Li Xiaoxia cruised to a victory in the showdown's first match, 3-0, but Germany's Han Ying put up a good fight against the Chinese superstar as she took nine points in Game 1 and seven points in Game 3.
The second singles match, though, was not nearly as close. Liu Shiwen dropped Petrissa Solja 11-3 in the first game and 11-5 in the second game before nabbing an 11-4 edge in the third and final game to give China a commanding 2-0 lead.
Then, in the doubles portion, Germany appeared as though it was going to give China trouble and threaten to extend the clash to a fourth match.
However, the Chinese remained cool, calm and collected despite dropping the third game, 11-9, and struck back in the fourth game, 11-7, before celebrating their big victory.
What. A. Point.
The above rally comes from the 2016 Kuwait Open, where Japan's Jun Mizutani won the point after an epic exchange with Portugal's Tiago Apolonia.
Brilliant stuff from both players.
A man with stunted arms has defied expectations to play table tennis with a racket strapped to his shortened right arm.
Even more impressive is the skill Luiz Henrique Medina, commonly known as Kaike, displays with the racket, exhibiting a ferocious forehand and a backhand almost as deadly with unnerving precision.
According to ITTF.com, Kaike is a Class 6 athlete who won silver and bronze medals at the Parapan Games in 2007. Kimberly Kill of the Costa Rican Table Tennis Federation reveals more of his challenging past.
"He is a man who, despite physical limitations, has been able to play with only half of his arms, a lack of language and no legs," she said. "He attended the San Francisco school after being abandoned by his mother outside a hospital."
Inspirational stuff.
[Facebook: International Table Tennis Federation, h/t ITTF.com]
Ma Long is the No. 1 table tennis player in the world, as recognized by the International Table Tennis Federation.
The 26-year-old won the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championship on Sunday, cementing his place in the international rankings and making him officially better than your friend who had a table in his basement.
Long’s championship didn’t come without a challenge, however. The final match of the tournament pitted him against fellow Chinese player Fang Bo (ranked No. 8), and a clash of the titans ensued.
One particular moment stood above the rest of Long and Bo's unearthly displays of coordination: a vicious, whole-ham spank-off in the fifth game of the match.
Forehand, backhand, cross-table—any way you liked it.
For 15 seconds, Long and Bo traded volleys no one anywhere has any business touching, much less returning accurately. The International Table Tennis Federation uploaded footage of the exchange (h/t For The Win’s Luke Kerr-Dineen), calling it the “Table Tennis Point of the Century.”
The video is a poignant reminder of the feats the human body is capable of after years of painstaking devotion to a single discipline. The life's work of two men combined to paint this masterpiece, and it’s a shame only one could come out on top (Bo took the point, Long won the match).
It’s also a reminder that sometimes you go to drink and miss the straw. Really brings you back to Earth.
Dan is on Twitter. He’s just happy if he can get some top spin on his serve.
