China defeated Chinese Hong Kong 3-0 to take the men's table tennis crown of the Magdeburg World Team Cup on Sunday.

 

 

Men's team of China poses for the photography, at the awards ceremony in Magdeburg, Germany. China defeated Chinese Hong Kong 3-0 to take the men's table tennis crown of the Magdeburg World Team Cup on Sunday, October 7, 2007. (Photo: Xinhua)

 

World champion Wang Liqin defeated Li Ching 3-0, Wang Hao beat Leung Chu Yan 3-1 while Ma Lin and Wang Hao sealed the title with a narrow 3-2 win against HK pair Leung Chu Yan and Ko Lai Chak.

 

Boasting of world's top three players in the team, China encountered little trouble in the two singles.

 

In the doubles, however, the Chinese pair were under tremendous pressure from their Hong Kong rivals.

 

After sharing the first four games, the Hong Kong pair had the best chance of recovery in the last game when they had an 8-5 lead.

 

However, Ma Lin and Wang Hao turned all the more aggressive, claiming five points in a row.

 

With one last match point ahead, Ko Lai Chak surprisingly failed in serving the ball, thus giving up the last chance of revenge.

 

"I'm satisfied with the performance of our team," said Hong Kong head coach after the match.

 

"The Chinese team is very formidable, we had no plan to beat them, we are satisfied," he added.

 

Two days ago in the qualifying round, China beat Chinese Hong Kong 3-1.

 

Chinese team head coach Liu Guoliang said his two objectives had been achieved.

 

"One is to take the gold medal, we did; the other is to bring more experience for our team, we also got it," the former Olympic champion said.

 

With the end of this tournament, the Chinese team will fly to Spain to participate in the World Cup for individual events later this week.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2007)