China wins men s title at Team TT Worlds

Halmstad (Sweden) May 6 (IANS) China won the men s final at the World Team Table Tennis Championships on Sunday defeating Germany 3-0 to take its ninth straight title.

Ma Long the reigning Olympic men s singles gold medallist and world champion dominated the opening game against Germany s Timo Boll 11-4 11-8 11-4 getting China off to a great start reports Efe.

"Today I was very active. In these matches you need to be technically and mentally good both are equally important. When I was losing in the second game I tried to take the initiative " China s Ma Long said.

Fan Zhendong then took out Ruwen Filus 11-4 11-5 11-4 in the second game.

"I have played against him before so I was prepared. I was ready for any difficulties. Even when I was leading I knew that I must keep my concentration. Ruwen Filus is a player against whom you have to be patient. You must wait for the first opportunity to play an attacking stroke " Fan said.

Xu Win put away Germany rallying to beat Patrick Franziska 9-11 12-10 11-7 11-5.

"I m so happy. I was under pressure but I responded and the crowd supported me. When I was losing in the second game I knew I had my teammates to follow even if I lost but I believed in myself " Xu said.

China has dominated table tennis for decades and has now won nine straight editions of this team event (now held biennially every even year) dating back to 2001.

--IANS
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