Double gold for China
China remain the dominant force in table tennis after wining the men's and women's world team titles.
Last Updated: 01/04/12 8:27pm
China cemented their place as the dominant force in table tennis by bagging both the men's and women's team golds at the World Championships in Germany.
The men beat hosts Germany 3-0 in the final in Dortmund, and the women followed that up by taking their title with another 3-0 victory against defending champions Singapore.
Both Chinese teams are defending Olympic champions and will head to London this summer as big favourites to retain both titles.
The men won a sixth team title in succession with their victory while the women won an 18th gold at the World Team Championships as they avenged defeat two years ago in Moscow - the only time they have failed to win since 1991.
"Again we are world champions and that is well-deserved," said China men's coach Liu Guoliang. "The German team is the strongest in Europe, I hope they continue developing.
"We have felt a lot of pressure coming here, Germany is a nation that tests us, so we were even more prepared then for the last tournament in 2010. Every game was very close."
The hosts put up a brave fight in the final but just came up short -a theme which continued after their star man Tim Bell fought back from 2-0 down to level with Zhang Jike before losing out 3-2.
"I've never played in front of such a fantastic backdrop. I was very motivated," said Zhang.
The World Championships form part of the qualification process for London 2012 but there is no doubt China will be there and big favourites to scoop gold once again.
