Ma Lin and Qin Zhijian fought a classic penholder battle in the final match of the men's singles event. After 5 tough games, Ma emerged as the winner.
In the semifinals held earlier in the day, Ma beat Kong Linghui 3-0, while Qin surprisingly defeated heavy favorite Wang Liqin 3-2.
Both Ma and Qin are penholders will excellent serves, 3rd-ball attacks and great control over the table. In the first game, serves dominated. Whoever was serving usually would win 3 oor 4, and sometimes all 5 points. After the score was tied at 20, Qin cashed in on his two opportunities to take the game 22-20. In the second game, Ma increased his forehand attacks, and Qin would use his backhand blocks to move his opponent around. The two played evenly, until at 18-17, Ma successfully attacked Qin's serves to win the game 21-18. In the 3rd Ma led all the way, and scored a 21-17 victory. In game 4, Qin seemed to have dropped all his "baggage" and opened up his attacks. He led throught the game to a 21-17 win to tie the match. In the deciding 5th, Qin started the game by winning all 5 points he served, and then Ma closed to 4-6 after his service turn. The game was very tight, and both sides were trying to take advantage of the serve to score points. Qin had a 14-12 lead, but missed a put-away. Ma now scored 5 points in a row, and finally won the game 21-17. Gold medal to Ma Lin.
Wang Liqin beat Kong Linghui 2-0 to win the bronze medal.
The Liaoning pair of Wang Nan and Zhang Rui won a tough 5-game battle (18, -16, 15, -20, 14) against Hebei's Bai Yang/Niu Jianfeng.The two pairs were close in ability. In Super League play, Bai/Niu had won twice over Wang/Zhang, but the scores were very close. This time Wang and Zhang prevailed. In the deciding 5th, the two Hebei players appeared to tighten up, and 17-year old Bai Yang made repeated errors on her forehand loops; those were the shots she executed with high percentages earlier in the match.
Jiangsu's Li Ju/Zhang Yingying beat Henan's Zhang Hui/Tie Yana to pick up the bronze medal.
Here are the earlier final results.
Men's Team: 1. PLA. 2. Shanghai. 3.Helongjiang. 3. Jiangsu.
Women's Team: 1. Beijing. 2. Hebei. 3. Liaoning. 4. Guangdong.
Women's Singles: 1. Wang Nan (Liaoning). 2. Zhang Yining (Beijing). 3. Lin Ling (Fujian). 4. Yang Ying (Jiangsu).
Men's Doubles: 1. Liu Guozheng/Ma Lin (Guangdong). 2. Gai Wei/Liu Heng (Beijing). 3. Liu Guoliang/Wang Tao (PLA). 4. Chen Junji/Ye Routing (Sichuan).
Mixed Doubles: 1. Qin Zhijian/Yang Ying. 2. Tian Zichao/Niu Jianfeng (Hebei). 3. Liu Heng/Zhang Yining (Beijing). 4. Gao Wei/Guo Yan (Beijing)