China defeated Chinese Hong Kong 3-0 to take the men's table
tennis crown of the Magdeburg World Team Cup on Sunday.
Men's team of China poses
for the photography, at the awards ceremony in Magdeburg, Germany.
China defeated Chinese Hong Kong 3-0 to take the men's table tennis
crown of the Magdeburg World Team Cup on Sunday, October 7, 2007.
(Photo: Xinhua)
World champion Wang Liqin defeated Li Ching 3-0, Wang Hao beat
Leung Chu Yan 3-1 while Ma Lin and Wang Hao sealed the title with a
narrow 3-2 win against HK pair Leung Chu Yan and Ko Lai Chak.
Boasting of world's top three players in the team, China
encountered little trouble in the two singles.
In the doubles, however, the Chinese pair were under tremendous
pressure from their Hong Kong rivals.
After sharing the first four games, the Hong Kong pair had the
best chance of recovery in the last game when they had an 8-5
lead.
However, Ma Lin and Wang Hao turned all the more aggressive,
claiming five points in a row.
With one last match point ahead, Ko Lai Chak surprisingly failed
in serving the ball, thus giving up the last chance of revenge.
"I'm satisfied with the performance of our team," said Hong Kong
head coach after the match.
"The Chinese team is very formidable, we had no plan to beat
them, we are satisfied," he added.
Two days ago in the qualifying round, China beat Chinese Hong
Kong 3-1.
Chinese team head coach Liu Guoliang said his two objectives had
been achieved.
"One is to take the gold medal, we did; the other is to bring
more experience for our team, we also got it," the former Olympic
champion said.
With the end of this tournament, the Chinese team will fly to
Spain to participate in the World Cup for individual events later
this week.
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2007)
