China crush Japan for men's table tennis title (updated)

China routed a toothless Japanese team 3-0 to claim their eighth straight men's title at the World Team Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.

Rooted for by thousands of the Chinese clad in either red or white, Xu Xin, Ma Long and Zhang Jike, ranked No. 3, No. 1 and No. 4 respectively in the world, beat Jun Mizutani, Maharu Yoshimura and Yuya Oshima at the Malawati Stadium.

Both Xu and Ma won in straight sets while Olympic champion Zhang, as a slow starter, lost the first set in his 3-1 victory over Oshima.

Xu took a comfortable win over Japan's Mizutani 11-6, 11-8 and 11-8, giving a perfect start for China.

"Mizutani is a very strong player and also one of our main rivals. I just tried to shake off the pressure and to play in a relaxed mood," Xu said, adding China are stronger than Japan as a whole team.

Ma followed suit by defeating Yoshimura easily 11-3, 11-8 and 11-6, earning the second point for China.

Losing his first set to Oshima 9-11, Zhang started to capture the game in the second set and gained dominance in the court. He sealed the victory for the defending champions by beating Oshima 11-8, 11-6 and 11-7.

"I'm really happy to win the match in Malaysia. I also feel the support of the audience at the stadium, and I want to extend my thanks to them," Zhang said.

Last time China lost the men's crown was in 2000 - right here in Kuala Lumpur, where Liu Guoliang, now China' s head coach, and Kong Linghui, now women's coach, were stunned by an aging Swedish team led by Jan-Ove Waldner.

Commenting on the gap between the Chinese team and teams of other countries and regions, Liu said that China have made great efforts in promoting table tennis, which was the reason why China is so strong in this area.

"I have witnessed the emergence of the Japanese table tennis team in the recent period. If other countries and regions could develop the sport like Japan, their gap with China will get closer," he added.

Earlier, China took their third straight, 20th overall, women's team crown after beating Japan 3-0 in the final, where the Japanese women put up a real fight, snatching three sets from Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia and world champion Ding Ning. Endit