Former-China Paralympic paddlers end Australia’s 37-year wait for table tennis gold
- Lina Lei wins her sixth gold and first for Australia with victory over China’s world No 1 Xiong Guiyan
- Yang Qian follows suit as Aussies celebrate first table tennis golds since 1984 but Ma Lin misses out in men’s singles gold
Lina Lei, Yang Qian and Ma Lin – who have won multiple gold medals between them – were called up to the Australian table tennis team for Tokyo, after changing their international allegiance in recent years.
Lei, 37, won her own sixth career Games gold on Monday when she came from behind to beat China’s world No 1 Xiong Guiyan in the women’s singles class 9 final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Xiong took the opening game before Lei won the next two only for Xiong to level before Lei expanded her gold haul, which dates back to Athens 2004, reclaiming the title she lost in Rio five years ago.
Her 3-2 (6-11, 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5) win ended Australia’s 37-year wait for table tennis gold since Terry Briggs won at the New York-Stoke Mandeville Games, the first year that the Paralympics and Olympics officially aligned.
Compatriot Yang then followed suit with another gold on the table when she beat Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre in the women’s singles class 10.