The men's singles in table tennis remains firmly in Chinese hands. Fan Zhendong wins the final against the Swedish surprise man Truls Möregardh with 4:1 sets.
The final was high-class and more balanced than the result of 7:11, 11:9, 11:9, 11:8, 11:8 suggests. Möregardh, only number 26 in the world, also kept up well in the final. When Möregardh led after the first set, an earthquake even seemed possible in the table tennis world. But then Fan Zhendong won the decisive rallies.
Fan crowned his career with the Olympic victory. The only thing missing from the 27-year-old's fantastic palmarès was Olympic gold. Fan Zhendong is ranked 4th in the world rankings.
China won the gold medal in the men's singles in table tennis for the fifth time in a row. Table tennis was included in the Summer Games program for the first time in Seoul in 1988. Since then, China has won gold in the men's singles in 7 out of 10 events.
Teenager celebrates bronze
The bronze medal was won by Frenchman Félix Lebrun against Calderano. The 17-year-old teenager thus brought his country only the second individual medal in Olympic table tennis history. Jean-Philippe Gatien had won silver in Barcelona in 1992.
SDA
