Olympic Table Tennis 2016: Women's Team Medal Winners, Scores, Bracket Results
Surprises were few and far between during the women's team table tennis event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Each of the top four seeds reached the semifinals, which were won by China and Germany, with China losing just a single game en route to the final.
Meanwhile, Japan and Singapore played for the bronze medal after coming up short in the semis. It represented a similar medal round to the 2012 London Games, when China defeated Japan for gold, and Singapore edged South Korea for bronze.
Let's check out the results from Tuesday's play, which will be updated following the conclusion of the gold-medal match. That's followed by a look at the medal table and a recap of the action.
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Tuesday's Table Tennis Results
| Bronze | (2) Japan vs. (4) Singapore | 3-1 JPN |
| Gold | (1) China vs. (3) Germany | 3-0 CHN |
Updated Medal Standings
Bronze: Japan vs. Singapore
| 1 | Ai Fukuhara | Yu Mengyu | 3-2 SIN |
| 2 | Kasumi Ishikawa | Feng Tianwei | 3-0 JPN |
| 3 | Ai Fukuhara & Mima Ito | Yu Mengyu & Zhou Yihan | 3-1 JPN |
| 4 | Mima Ito | Feng Tianwei | 3-0 JPN |
Singapore's Yu Mengyu and Japan's Ai Fukuhara set the stage for a highly competitive match with a hard-fought opening fixture. Yu dropped the first game, but she fought back to win three of the next four, including an 11-5 final game, to give her side the early advantage.
The Straits Times Sports Desk spotlighted the topsy-turvy battle:
Kasumi Ishikawa, Japan's top-ranked player at No. 6 in the world, got her side back to level by winning three straight games over Feng Tianwei. She nearly let the first game slip away after building an early lead, but she held on for a 12-10 victory and then won the next two in routine fashion.
ITTF World provided further details about the end of the third set:
Japan moved into the lead with a triumph in the doubles match. Fukuhara and Mima Ito split the first two games with the tandem of Yu and Zhou Yihan before scoring a dominant 11-1 victory in Game 3. They closed it out with a pressure-packed 14-12 win.
Jack Board of Channel News Asia passed along a snapshot of the action:
Ito, who's just 15 years old, showed nerves of steel to clinch the victory. The budding superstar took down Feng, the fourth-ranked player in the world, in three straight games to announce her presence loud and clear on the global stage.
Board highlighted the celebration by Team Japan:
Ultimately, the Japanese group would have loved to get another crack at China after losing in the gold-medal match four years ago. Taking home bronze is a nice consolation prize, however, especially after falling behind early in the match.
Ito was particularly impressive in her two fixtures to complete the victory. It would be a surprise if she's not a top medal contender in singles by the time the 2020 Tokyo Games roll around in her home nation.
Gold: China vs. Germany
| 1 | Li Xiaoxia vs. Han Ying | 3-0 |
| 2 | Liu Shiwen vs. Petrissa Solja | 3-0 |
| 3 | Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen vs. Petrissa Solja/Shan Xiaona | 3-1 |
China maintained its stranglehold on table tennis superiority on Tuesday night when it dispatched Germany, 3-0, in the team final to secure gold.
The gold medal marked China's third straight since the team event was introduced at the 2008 Olympics in London, according to Sports-Reference.com. As for Germany, the silver medal represents the first medal of any kind for the country in team table tennis.
Li Xiaoxia cruised to a victory in the showdown's first match, 3-0, but Germany's Han Ying put up a good fight against the Chinese superstar as she took nine points in Game 1 and seven points in Game 3.
The second singles match, though, was not nearly as close. Liu Shiwen dropped Petrissa Solja 11-3 in the first game and 11-5 in the second game before nabbing an 11-4 edge in the third and final game to give China a commanding 2-0 lead.
Then, in the doubles portion, Germany appeared as though it was going to give China trouble and threaten to extend the clash to a fourth match.
However, the Chinese remained cool, calm and collected despite dropping the third game, 11-9, and struck back in the fourth game, 11-7, before celebrating their big victory.
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