Wang Hao celebrates as he wins the men's singles.

China’s table tennis team continued its winning fashion in the 2009 World Championships in Yokohama. The team, which claimed all the four golds in the Beijing Games, dampened competitors’ title expectations by securing all the semi-final seats in the tournament.

Li Ping and Cao Zhen defeated Mu Zi and Zhang Jike to win the mixed doubles title on Sunday, while Wang Hao and Chen Qi, the no.1 seeds, edged out compatriots Ma Long and Xu Xin to win the men’s doubles. Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia won the country’s 11th successive victory in the women’s doubles.

Zhang Yining, China’s new table tennis queen after Deng Yaping and Wang Nan, defeated Guo Yue to win gold  in the women’s singles this afternoon. And Wang Hao, the world number one  in ITTF ranking, swept Wang Liqin 4-0 in the men’s singles final.

That China won all the golds and silvers in the tournament doesn’t seem so exciting to the country’s sports officials.

“If one team keeps winning all at the world championships and Olympics, table tennis’ Olympic future is in danger,” said Yao Zhenxu, a vice chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association in an interview. “In recent world championships or Olympics, semifinals are always more exciting than finals because they are all Chinese affairs.”

The ITTF said last week that they want to alter the schedule for the 2012 London Olympics. The new proposal, which opposed by China, will see singles matches played ahead of the team events as “it’s fairer to the players who do not take part in the team event.”

Source:

• Sky Sports: Golds for China  - 11th successive women’s double title for Chinese
• Xinhua: As China won all, Chinese official worried about table tennis’ Olympic future

Photo:  ITTF

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