China are World Team Table Tennis Championships winners again. (Photo WTT)
China won their 24th ITTF World Women’s Team Table Tennis Championships title in London, beating rivals Japan in the final. The sixth consecutive electrifying final between the two teams ended 3-2 in China’s favour.
It was a final that the world has seen before, with both countries going all the way to the last day at every edition since 2014. China had looked to maintain their stranglehold, while Japan hoped to end a 55-year gold medal drought.
The first match saw Miwa Harimoto up against Wang Manyu, and the odds were stacked against the young Japanese star, who has never beaten the current World No.2 in all of their 11 meetings.
But Harimoto flew off the starting blocks, dispatching one of China’s best by seven points in the first and was leading 10-5 in the second. Manyu came roaring back and narrowed the gap to one point, but Harimoto, after seeking her coach’s advice during a time out, held on. Despite going down two games, Manyu still had confidence and stormed the third to get herself off the mark.
Game four was where game was well and truly on. Manyu was flying, shifting through the gears, and the 27-year-old went from 4-0 up to 8-4 up, and served out game point.
The tie had become a one-game match, and Manyu and Harimoto were giving everything, cheering every point, and OVO Arena Wembley was rocking. In a make-or-break decider, Harimoto, out of nowhere, blew Manyu out of the water to put Japan 1-0 up, winning the contest 11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 11-4.
Next up, was a match-up where the head-to-head was totally one-sided, with Sun Yingsha winning all 18 of her matches against Hina Hayata. But unlike her compatriot, the 25-year-old Yingsha took the first game, and while Hayata remained competitive throughout, Yingsha drew China level with a 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 win.
With scores at 1-1, the third match was crucial, and Honoka Hashimoto put herself in the driving seat early on against Kuai Man and stayed there to put Japan on the edge of history, taking the game 11-6, 5-11, 11-6, 11-8.
With Japan in touching distance of ending a losing streak in the final dating back to 2014, and China in must-win territory, both countries dispatched their best players, with Yingsha taking on Harimoto. And as Yingsha has done so often here in London, she steamed past the woman standing opposite her 11-2, 11-4, 11-6 to set up a nail-biting finish.
Just like that, the final would be decided in one more match, with Hayata and Manyu returning to action, hoping to recover from their earlier losses, to determine where the gold was going. While neutrals were hoping for another thriller, Manyu was in full control and wrote another chapter in China’s history books, taking the game 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 and sealing a Chinese victory.
