See you in Tokyo: beaten Japanese team fires early warning to repeat Olympic champions China

China has again proven to the world that it is near invincible in table tennis, defeating Japan in the men’s team finals to secure its third Olympic team gold in a row.

But Japan was quick to warn China about getting revenge in four years, announcing that the possibility of defeating the Chinese players at the Tokyo Olympics “will not be just a dream”.

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The Chinese players won 3-1 to take gold, losing only in the singles when Xu Xin went up against Jun Mizutani. World No 1 Ma Long lived up to expectations, winning two singles matches against Koki Niwa and Maharu Yoshimura.

The game was closely watched by people in China not only because of the historical tensions between the two countries, but because an expected gold would boost the morale of China’s underperforming Olympians.

China now ranks third in the medal tally after being overtaken by Great Britain earlier this week. USA remains top of the table and looks set to remain at the top as the Games draw to a close.

“I knew that if we won the doubles match, we would definitely take gold,” Ma said after the game.

Xu, the world’s No 3 player, cautioned that the Japanese players could indeed stage a comeback at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.