China has successfully defended their Men’s & Women’s Team titles at the 2018 Asian Games today 28 August 2018 clinching its seventh consecutive Men’s & fourth consecutive Women’s Team Gold.
The Chinese men’s team of LIN Gaoyuan FAN Zhendong & WANG Chuqin were pumped in the Men’s Team final against third seeded Korea Republic team formed by LEE Sangsu JEOUNG Youngsik & JANG Woojin.
World number four LIN Gaoyuan was on fire against 2017 World Championships bronze medalist LEE Sangsu giving the latter no chance to fight back ending matters quickly in the first match 11-3 11-3 11-2.
Despite putting up a tough fight JEOUNG Youngsik was unable to upset world number one FAN Zhendong to level the score losing 12-10 8-11 8-11 7-11.
18-year-old WANG Chuqin then faced 23-year-old JANG Woojin in an epic counter that thrilled the sell-out crowd at the Jakarta International Expo. Recovering from his semifinals loss to Chinese Taipei’s LIN Yun-Ju earlier in the day WANG Chuqin held on to his nerves to overcome JANG Woojin 13-11 7-11 11-9 11-6 to help China win its record seventh Gold.
Playing in his first Asian Games WANG Chuqin stated “After the semifinals loss I was devastated. Luckily my team stood behind me and motivated me giving me the power to fight in the final and I was able to give in my everything in the match.”
Though losing to Korea Republic in the semifinals the Indian men’s team made history in Jakarta securing their first ever table tennis medal at the Asian Games.
The trio of Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN Sharath Kamal ACHANTA & Harmeet Rajul DESAI pulled off an incredible upset against second seeded Japanese team of Kenta MATSUDAIRA Jin UEDA & Masaki YOSHIDA 3-1 in the quarterfinals to achieve the historic feat.
India’s top player Sharath Kamal ACHANTA reflected “It’s really awesome to win our first Asian Games medal and make history! We have never dreamt of an Asian Games medal because Asia is so strong and it’s very hard for us to get medals here. We’ve been steadily improving for the last 2 years since the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games gave us a lot of confidence. Now the country knows table tennis people are talking about table tennis and this has been something that I had been wanting for such a long time!”
In the Women’s Team event the Chinese trio of ZHU Yuling CHEN Meng & WANG Manyu proved too strong for the North Korean team of KIM Song I CHA Hyo Sim & KIM Nam Hae defending their title 3-0.
ZHU Yuling was unstoppable in her close encounter with Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist KIM Song I winning 11-9 11-8 11-6 to give China a 1-0 lead.
CHEN Meng was able to keep up the winning momentum against CHA Hyo Sim winning 11-6 11-8 14-12 before two-time World Junior Champion WANG Manyu survived the challenges from KIM Nam Hae to seal the final deal for China 8-11 11-5 11-4 11-7.
“We are very happy with the victory! I played the third match in the last edition of the Asian Games in Incheon and today I played first and was able to win the first point for our team it’s definitely not easy ” stated world number one ZHU Yuling after leading China to Gold. “I think unity is the key for our team victory today all five of us are close in age and it’s easier to communicate between us and cooperate with our coach that was crucial.”
The Chinese Taipei men’s team took home the other Men’s Team Bronze medal while Hong Kong & Korea Republic settled for the Women’s Team Bronze to round up the Team event.
The 2018 Asian Games table tennis event continues tomorrow 29 August with the Mixed Doubles action followed by the Mixed Doubles Final on 30 August while the Men’s & Women’s Singles competition will begin from 30 August till 1 September.
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