London – GBR, August 08, 2012: first position, The table tennis event ended with the victory of the Chinese team against the Republic of Korea in the finals of the Team Event. For the second time in a row, China team clinched the title after their success in Beijing 2008. Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Wang Hao defeated this afternoon in London the Korean trio, Ryu Seungmin, Joo Saekyuk and Oh Sangeun, 3-0 in the final.
Atfter the bronze won by Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the singles, Germany clinched a second bronze medal in this Olympic Games, the fifth medal in the Olympic Games since 1988 for the Germans, far behind Korea (18) and China (47).
Germany beat Hong Kong 3-1.The Germans lost the Doubles contest but Timo Boll brought the last point by beating Jiang Tianyi. China defeated Korea to win the men’s team table tennis event for the second time in the two Olympic Games in which it has been contested. China have won all seven gold medals in non-individual men’s table tennis events – five in men’s doubles and two in the men’s team events.
WANG Hao (CHN) became the first man to win five Olympic medals in table tennis. He equals compatriot WANG Nan’s (CHN) record total for players of either gender. Korea won their first silver medal in a non-individual men’s event after winning five previous bronze medals.
QUOTES :
ZHANG Jike (CHN) – gold: “I feel like my neck is stretching. I’m quite satisfied, especially after losing in the semifinal (of the team event against Germany). Today was above expectation. I just want to go back to Beijing to see my table tennis team.”
“I haven’t had a chance to look around London but I want to thank the London government for supporting the Games.”
WANG HAO (CHN) gold: “I am very excited. Thanks to everyone who supported us. There may only be three people in this team but this is for the millions in China watching us. I just want to call my family. They will be very happy and congratulate me.”
MA Long (CHN) – gold: “I’m quite happy we won this gold medal, especially as it is my first Olympics. I may have only played in the team event but I still put in a lot of effort. I will be practising hard to play singles so I hope to get a chance in that as well. The whole of China have this victory.”
LIU Guoliang – coach: “To be top of the medal table makes me feel very proud of my nation. It’s good to keep up the great work from Beijing.”
On the team’s performance in winning 3-0: “We played well but there is still room for improvement in all areas of our game. We have a lot of talent coming through, so we will be in a good position at the next Olympic Games.”
OH Sanguen (KOR) – silver: “It may not be gold but silver is also very good. I’ve worked very hard for this so I’m happy.”
JOO Saehyuk (KOR) – silver: “I am happy with silver, I’m very proud of myself.”
RYU Seungmin (KOR) – silver: “It may not be gold but I’m happy with silver. We played very well against China (the gold medallists).”
Jorg ROSSKOPF (GER): “Very proud. It was a tough match, Hong Kong are a fantastic team. I think we deserve the bronze after such a tough semifinal against China. We said before the tournament that we were aiming for a medal in the singles and team tournament. Having achieved this we are obviously delighted. Our federation is delighted and it is also a great boost for European table tennis as we have shown that we can beat Chinese players.”
Timo BOLL (GER) – bronze: “For me it was a rollercoaster. The conditions in London were great. It’s great to be a part of it. I’m really pleased with the bronze medal. Today was all or nothing. I played a good game. I was surprised by their tactics. We were really not sure we could win this match. It was like our final. Today they were good opponents and in great shape, we were really not sure we could win this match, it was like our final. We played a good match against China and now we played a good match again today so we deserve a medal.”
TANG Peng (HKG): “It was a real disappointment to lose today as I think we had a real chance. I think we were affected by the loss in the semifinal to Korea. If we’d had a little luck then we could have been in the final. Still, I don’t think anybody expected us to get this far in the team competition.”
“Of course it’s always good to win a medal but you can’t quantify everything with medals, because we trained hard and played well. Overall I’m content because we’ve done our best and I had an injury. A typhoon before we left (Hong Kong, China) affected the nerves in my (left) shoulder, and I aggravated it on the first day of training here. I’ve been having constant treatment for it.”
JIANG Tianyi (HKG): “If we’d made better decisions in the match the result would have been different. I think I had some opportunities to win so I have some regrets. I should have been braver and more attacking.” —- ITTF
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