CHEN Meng wins all-China final in women’s singles table tennis at Tokyo 2020
People's Republic of China’s CHEN Meng overpowers teammate SUN Yingsha to win women’s singles table tennis title at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
The People’s Republic of China had already won women’s singles table tennis gold before the match had begun with two teammates winning a place in the final at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, but the eventual winner was CHEN Meng.
In the all-China final, the world number one beat her compatriot, and world number two, SUN Yingsha, 4-2 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on 29 July.
It was a tough match with 20-year-old Sun opening up the attack and winning the first game 9-11. Chen fought back in the next two games, winning them 11-6, 11-4, but then lost 5-11 in the fourth. By the 5th game the 27-year-old had rallied and won it 11-4, and then held her nerve in the last game winning it 11-9.
Japan’s ITO Mima, and world number three, made history when she took bronze after beating the number 26 seed, Singapore’s Yu Mengyu, 31, by 4-1. The victory meant the 20-year-old was the first woman from Japan to win a woman’s singles table tennis medal for her country at an Olympics.
Sun had earlier settled a score with Ito by beating her in the semifinals 4-0. The host nation athlete had ended China’s dominance of the sport in the mixed doubles when she won gold with partner MIZUTANI Jun against the country’s number one seeds XU Xin and LIU Shiwen on 26 July.
It was Japan’s first gold in a mixed doubles Olympics final. It was also the first time that China had not won gold in singles, doubles or team table tennis since 2004.