China Table Tennis wins men's and women's team titles at Asian Championships in Pyeongchang

Men's team defeats Taiwan 3-0 in final to return to the crown after four years away

Table Tennis No. 1 China

The 'strongest' Chinese table tennis team swept the men's and women's team gold medals at the PyeongChang 2023 Asian Table Tennis Championships.

The Chinese team of world No. 1 Fan Zhendong, No. 3 Ma Rong and No. 6 Liang Jingkun cruised to a 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei, which fielded No. 7 Lin Yunru, No. 26 Zhang Zhiyuan and No. 33 Gao Zhengrui, in the men's team final on the fourth day of the Games at the Pyeongchang Dome in Gangwon Province on Saturday.

With the victory, China was crowned the men's team champion after winning the women's title the day before.

South Korea, who lost to China, and India, who lost to Chinese Taipei in the semifinals, took home the bronze medals.

China returned to the men's and women's crowns for the first time in four years after missing the 2021 edition in Doha due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In the 26 editions of the Asian Championships to date, there have been only three occasions when China has not won the men's team title.

The Chinese have won 11 consecutive titles since the second edition, when Japan was crowned the inaugural champion. They were dethroned by South Korea at the 1996 edition, and then went on an 11-game losing streak before the Koreans reclaimed the gold in Doha, where they did not compete.

After the conclusion of the team competition, the Asian Championships will continue with the 'second round' of individual events, including the men's and women's singles and mixed doubles, on Sunday. sportstotomen.com