London 2012: China Is The Olympic Men Team Champion!

The Olympic table tennis has reached to its end today in the Excel Arena with the Men Team Finals as the concluding event. The top seed, China defends the Olympic title against the challenger and the second seed from South Korea. 

The first battle was between the two Olympic third persons, Ma Long and Ryu Seung Min. Indeed, as planned, powerful attacks ushered the match. Ryu Seung Min did inflict some certain amount of pressure to his opponent. However, Ma Long came prepared for it. 

Ma Long played extremely well. Aside from the quick and lethal topspins, his attacks were also nicely placed in the opposite side of the table, making his opponent feel uncomfortable. He led in 2-0. 

After losing the first two games, Ryu Seung Min managed to establish a decent lead in the third set. In addition, the 2004 Olympic champion also gained control, having the right rhythm against his opponent. Having to use their timeout, Ryu Seung Min succeeded in blocking a crushing defeat. 

However, Ryu Seung Min did not succeed in destroying the confidence of his opponent. Ma Long lost one set and that is enough. He took back the control over the table, leaving not much opportunities to Ryu Seung Min.

The former Olympic champion showed signs of recovery and China called for their timeout. After the match resumed, Ma Long finished the match with 11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4. 

Zhang Jike was the second player into the match against the best defender we have in this world, Joo Sae Hyuk. Indeed, the South Korean player was able to test the patience of Zhang Jike as soon as their match started. In addition, Joo Sae Hyuk was able to read very well the play of his Chinese opponent.

The opening game was rather close and clearly got into the nerves of Liu Guoliang. Good thing, Zhang Jike had strength to withstood the challenge and sealed the first advantage.  

Zhang Jike won the opening set but the defenses of Joo Sae Hyuk got even stronger, making it difficult for Zhang Jike to penetrate. The South Korean had the answers to the powerful forehands of Zhang Jike. In other words, Joo Sae Hyuk has used up the energy of his opponent. Joo leveled in 1-1. 

The match continued to be hard for Zhang Jike but after losing the previous game, the Chinese player remained stable in his attacks. Zhang Jike established his lead. 

Joo Sae Hyuk came prepared for a hard battle as well and came along with extra tricks on his bag. Joo Sae Hyuk continued to be outstanding in the arena with his rather impressive topspins, sometimes overshadowing the talents and skills of our Grand Slam winner.  

However, losing against Timo Boll in the semifinals was too much. In four sets, the Olympic champion Zhang Jike used his strength to finish with 11-9, 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, leading the Chinese Team to a 2-0 advantage. Too bad, Joo Sae Hyuk had to show his brilliant skills against a Chinese player. 

Moving on, the previous match was still not the end for the Olympic champion Zhang Jike. He still needs to work in the Doubles together with Wang Hao. They faced Ryu Seung Min and Oh Sang Eun. 

At this point, South Korea was in clear trouble as they were slowly drifting away from the gold. Meanwhile, the Chinese duo was very convincing in the match. The coordination, the skills, the confidence, momentum, everything was in the direction of China. 

Eventually Zhang Jike and Wang Hao sealed the match with 11-4, 11-8, 11-6, completing an amazing sweep victory against South Korea. 

Once again, China has proven their supremacy over the table tennis sport. They have successfully preserved the glory of Chinese table tennis and will reign for the next four years, at least. 

South Korea settled for SILVER while China clinched GOLD! This is the end of the 2012 London Olympics. 

Photo source: sports.sohu.com