China’s Fan Zhendong and Wang Manyu dominate table tennis world championships – ‘I don’t think there are any losers tonight’
- World No 1 Fan defeats Moregard of Sweden to win first career world championships singles gold – ‘I was really feeling nervous’
- World No 4 Wang beats Chinese teammates and world’s top two Sun and Chen to win women’s singles – ‘we inspire each other to give our best’
Chinese world No 1 Fan Zhendong swept Sweden’s Truls Moregard in the men’s singles final to clinch a stunning fifth world championships title in Houston.
It was the 24-year-old Guangdong native’s first singles gold medal having dispatched 77th-ranked Moregard 11-5, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday morning (Hong Kong time).
Moregard, whose coach Stellan Bengtsson became the first Swede to win a men’s singles title at the 1971 championships, showed glimpses of class but Fan’s offensive power was far too strong.
“I’m really happy,” Fan told World Table Tennis. “I was really feeling nervous before the match because I wanted to win for my team and country. With this latest win, I’ll be looking ahead with more confidence as I continue to develop.”
It was an all-China affair in the women’s singles, as world No 4 Wang Manyu shocked world No 2 Sun Yingsha in a dramatic tiebreak decider final, 11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 17-15.
The 21-year-old Heilongjiang paddler proved once again to be a menace against both national teammates Sun and world No 1 Chen Meng, who she beat in the semi-final.
“I’m really excited – I don’t think there are any losers tonight,” said Wang, who boasts four world championship gold medals. “Yingsha and I are very good friends and we inspire each other to give our best. I want to thank her for putting up a good fight and then to all the fans who have been supporting us.”
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Falck sealed the men’s doubles with a comfortable 11-8, 15-13, 11-13, 12-10 win over Jang Woojin and Lim Jonghoon.
The South Korean pair had knocked Hong Kong’s Wong Chun-ting and Ho Kwan-kit out in the quarter-finals.
In the women’s doubles, Wang and Sun teamed up to edge rivals Hina Hayata and Mima Ito of Japan, 11-9-11-7-11-8.
In the mixed doubles, China’s rising men’s star Wang Chuqin teamed up with Sun to blitz Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata.
Elsewhere in the table tennis world, the International Paralympic Committee announced that the existing men’s and women’s team events will be replaced by the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles at the Paris 2024 Games.
The three new doubles events supposedly allow a wider range of class combinations between both the standing and wheelchair categories, with categories determined by adding the class numbers of the two players.
The Paris Paralympics confirmed it would award a total of 31 table tennis medals when the Games begin in August 2024.
