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| Championship team of China, Wang Liqin, Ma Long,Chen Qi, coach Liu Guoliang, Wang Hao, Ma Lin, from left to right, seen during the winners ceremony at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Bremen, northern Germany,May 1,2006.China won the final 3-0 against South Korea.(Xinhua) |
China won the men's World Team Table Tennis Championship on Monday with a dominant 3-0 victory over South Korea in the final.
It was the 15th world title for the holders who have not been beaten in team championships since losing to Sweden in 2000.
Led by current individual world champion Wang Liqin, China swept aside all before them and only lost one individual match throughout the whole competition, in the semi-final against Germany, to record a 24-1 win-loss ratio in individual matches.
It completed a clean sweep after the Chinese women triumphed on Sunday in their final against Hong Kong.
World number three Wang Hao, 22, got the holders off to aflying startwith a comprehensive 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 thrashing of Oh Sang-eun.
China then pitted world champion Wang Liqin against Olympic champion Ryu Seung-min, one of the few players in the world able to compete at the same level as the dominant Chinese. It proved amasterstroke.
Ryu led Wang by two games to one in anail-bitingmatch but the world champion showed great grit and determination to come back and win the next two and extinguish any faint hopes Korea had of winning.
Wang was actually the only Chinese player to drop a game in the men's final as world number four Ma Lin then beat Lee Jung-woo 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 to complete a Chinesewhitewash.
(Agencies)
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