Olympic Games | 16 Oct 2018

Dramatic end of Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, honour for Japan, gold for China

Photo: ITTF

 

Gold medallists five days earlier in the respective Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events, on the concluding day of play at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, China’s WANG Chuqin and SUN Yingsha added to their collection of titles.

 

However, the success was not without moments of trepidation, the no.4 seeds, they were extended the full three match distance by Japan’s Tomokazu HARIMOTO and Miu HIRANO, the top seeds; the win coming after Chinese Taipei’s LIN Yun-Ju and SU Pei-Ling, the no.2 seeds, had clinched the bronze medal in a contest that witnessed an even closer finish when eventually overcoming the combination of Sweden’s Truls MOREGARD and Serbia’s Sabina SURJAN, the no.3 seeds.

 

Beaten in the Men’s Singles final by Wang Chuqin (11-9, 5-11, 11-1, 13-11, 11-9), there was revenge for Tomokazu HARIMOTO; after Miu HIRANO had come within a whisker of overcoming SUN Yingsha in the fourth game of the opening engagement (11-4, 7-11, 7-11, 15-13, 11-1), Tomokazu HARIMOTO accounted for WANG Chuqin in four games (9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3).

 

Great credit must be paid to Tomokazu HARIMOTO for the way in which he responded; not only the fact that he avenged the Men’s Singles defeat, also earlier in the day he had been beaten by Truls MOREGARD (4-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9). A splendid effort and in the doubles a brave response; a four games result was the outcome in favour of China (11-8, 11-6, 12-14, 11-5).

 

The doubles needed to determine the champions; it was the same in the bronze medal contest, the verdict determined by the closest possible finish. LIN Yun-Ju and SU Pei-Ling beat Truls MOREGARD and Sabina SURJAN by the very narrowest of five game margins (11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 3-11, 13-11).

 

A dramatic conclusion, the success coming after Sabina Surjan had beaten SU Pei-Ling (11-9, 14-12, 11-8) and LIN Yun-Ju, the backbone of his team’s success in Buenos Aires, had accounted for the in-form Truls MOREGARD (10-12, 12-10, 17-15, 11-5).

 

Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games Table Tennis Medallists:

Women's Singles:

• Gold – SUN Yingsha (CHN)
• Silver – Miu HIRANO (JPN)
• Bronze – Andreea DRAGOMAN (ROU)

Men's Singles:

• Gold – WANG Chuqin (CHN)
• Silver – Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN)
• Bronze – Kanak JHA (USA)

Mixed Teams:

• Gold – SUN Yingsha (CHN) & WANG Chuqin (CHN)
• Silver – Miu HIRANO (JPN) & Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN)
• Bronze – SU Pei-Ling (TPE) & LIN Yun-Ju (TPE)

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