Chinese ping pong stars book places in singles finals
Table tennis powerhouse China on Friday secured places in both singles finals at the Paris Olympics, after Fan Zhendong made it through on the men's side while Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha set up an all-China final in the women's competition. Fan, the second seed on the men's side, crushed local favourite Felix Lebrun 4-0 in a little more than half an hour in the final four.  Fan won 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 and 11-5 to silence the home crowd. He became China's only medal hopeful in the men's singles after top-seeded Wang Chuqin was stunned by Sweden's Truls Moregard in an earlier round. Third-seeded Lebrun, who's only 17, did manage a three-point lead in the third game, but was otherwise outclassed by Fan. Fan will face Moregard in the final, after the Swede defeated Brazil's Hugo Calderano 4-2 in a gruelling semi-final matchup. On the women's side, Chen has a chance to retain her Olympic singles title, after an emphatic 4-0 trouncing of South Korea's Shin Yubin in the semi-finals.  Top-seeded Sun Yingsha, also from China, secured an all-China final after brushing aside Japan's Hina Hayata 4-0 in the other semi-final tie. Sun won 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 11-2, while not allowing the Japanese to take a lead in the last two games._____________________________
Last updated: 2024-08-03 HKT 03:40 