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Japanese paddler Mizutani wins first world elite medal in Rio Games

Xinhua, August 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan's top male paddler June Mizutani lifted himself on a world elite podium for the first time after beating Belarus' 40-year-old veteran Vladimir Samsonov here on Thursday for an Olympic bronze medal of table tennis.

The 27-year-old claimed a 11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 14-12, 11-8 victory over the six-time Olympian Belarusian, the 1997 world championships singles runner-up.

Easily surrendering the opening set 11-4, Samsonov dropped two points in a row after the Japanese won an over 30-tap rally to tie it 9-9.

The world No. 9 Belarusian then managed to take control of the rhythm to rush it into 10-4 before denying a late comeback of Mizutani who pulled two set points in a row before returning wide to lose it 11-6.

Exchanging lead from 10-all, the duo played a tactical game in the fourth set and took control in turns before Mizutani got lucky to win it 14-12 with an edge ball.

Leading 2-0 into the fifth set, Samsonov failed to stop Mizutani from playing an in-style 7-1 run and easily gave up 11-3 to lose the third-place play-off.

Earlier on Thursday morning, Mizutani, ranked the sixth in the world, was beaten by top seed Ma Long, and Samsonov lost to defending champion Zhang Jike in the semifinals. The last four performance has been the six-time Olympian's best results so far. Endit