Doha (Qatar), May 22 (IANS) China’s table tennis team will not repeat its gold-medal sweep from the Paris Olympics, as third-seeded Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong were eliminated from the men’s doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday.
The sixth-seeded pair from Chinese Taipei, Kao Cheng-Jui and Lin Yun-Ju, defeated Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong 11-5, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8. Lin/Lin struggled to find a rhythm and showed limited creativity throughout the match.
Earlier in the tournament, Kao/Lin had also knocked out China’s Liang Jingkun/Huang Youzheng with a 3-1 win in the second round.
It marks the first time since 1975 that China has failed to reach the semifinals of the men’s doubles event at the World Championships.
Meanwhile, Olympic champions Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha overcame a slow start to beat Japan 3-1 in the mixed doubles quarterfinals on Thursday.
The second-seeded Chinese pair was able to shine at clutch moments, beating fifth seeds Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, reports Xinhua.
“I had thought we were going to lose this match easily,” said Matsushima. “We played better than we had expected. We felt depth and tenacity from each strike by the Chinese. The barrier separating us is really high.”
Matsushima added that he and Harimoto had seen a glimmer of hope midway through the contest. “If we had taken the third set, we might have had a chance to win the match. But we failed. That’s the gap between the Chinese and us.”
On Wednesday, Lin Shidong shrugged off a stunning morning defeat to win both his men’s singles and doubles matches. Lin and Kuai Man, the top seeds in mixed doubles, were upset 3-1 (8-11, 11-5, 13-11, 12-10) by Japan’s 16th-seeded pair Maharu Yoshimura and Satsuki Odo, leaving Olympic champions Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha as the only Chinese pair remaining in contention.
The third-seeded Chinese duo swept South Korea’s Jang Woo-jin and Cho Dae-seong 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9). Earlier, world No. 1 Lin Shidong overcame a slow start to defeat 74th-ranked Kristian Karlsson of Sweden in five sets (8-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9).
–IANS
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