China trounced Germany 3-0 to win the gold medal in the first Olympic men's team table tennis event today. The men's victory followed the Chinese women's success a day earlier, the first two of the four-gold sweep that China are targeting in their national sport. Unlike the women, who were briefly thrown off their game by the pressure of playing at home, the men revelled in the raucous atmosphere and the outcome never appeared in doubt. China lost only two games along the way.
"This is the first time that the team event has been included in the Olympics and we were really happy to claim the first one for China," said world number one Wang Hao. "We really prepared a long time and gave up a lot waiting for this final today." With the top four players in the world all Chinese, the team competition had long been expected to be an anointment for China, leaving the rest of the world to fight for silver.
"We have a proverb in Germany, 'the final must be won'. We tried to put that in our mind before the final," said the German coach Richard Prouse. "We tried everything to find out the weak point of the Chinese players. It was difficult to find them. On the other hand, they found some weak points in the German team," he said. Wang pounced on Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov from his first serve, claiming the opening game in less than four minutes. His rasping topspin pushed Ovtcharov further and further off the table. Wang won 11-4 11-8 and 11-7.
Germany's top player Timo Boll managed to wrest a game off Ma Lin in the second match. Ma looked more energised than rattled by the German's stand and, playing just off the baseline, harried Boll into mistakes, taking the match 11-7 8-11 11-4 and 11-7. Boll won another game in the doubles, partnered by Christian Suss, the lowest-ranked player in the contest by some distance at 40th in the world.
Their opponents, Wang Hao and Wang Liqin, responded by layering smash on top of smash to win three straight games and the contest. "We are really happy. This (silver) is at this moment the maximum that you can reach in the team event because China is too dominant. They are the best team in the world," said Ovtcharov. Struggling Ryu Seung-min discovered his form in time to lead South Korea to the Olympic bronze with a 3-1 win over Austria. * Reuters
