China continued to show why they are the goliath of table tennis with a dominant win over Germany to take the women’s team gold, the champions dropping only one game in the final.
In a 3-0 whitewash that lasted just one-and-a-half hours, Li Xiaoxia (picture, right) and Liu Shiwen utilised booming smashes and prodigious spin shots to overcome Han Ying and Petrissa Solja, of Germany, without dropping a game in the opening singles matches.
Fifteen-year-old Mima Ito, of Japan, became the youngest ever Olympic table tennis medallist after she helped her team to clinch the bronze medal, easing to a 3-1 victory over Singapore.