PARIS: Fan Zhendong clinched Olympic gold in the men's singles table tennis on Sunday, maintaining the Chinese stranglehold on the sport and ending a fairytale run for shock finalist Truls Moregard.
Roared on by a partisan crowd waving Chinese flags, world champion Zhendong outclassed the lower-ranked Swede 4-1 in a pulsating Paris final featuring some sensational rallies.
Moregard, world-ranked 26, was seeking to become the first man outside Asia to win Olympic gold since his compatriot Jan-Ove Waldner, who struck gold in Barcelona in 1992.
The 19th seed had already produced the shock of the tournament, beating Chinese top seed Wang Chuqin in the last 32, a day after a photographer broke Chuqin's bat during celebrations for China's mixed doubles gold.
Moregard started brilliantly against Fan, taking the first game 11-7, counter-attacking effectively on his backhand and seemingly causing the Chinese ace difficulty with his heavy top-spin.
But Zhendong, the second seed, hit back in the second game, levelling up the match with a fierce backhand top-spin drive up the line to take the game 11-9.
The third game also went the way of the Chinese player 11-9, Fan seizing game point with a forehand smash that brought the whole stadium to its feet.
Zhendong now seized control, taking the fourth game 11-8 to bring him within one game of gold.
The Chinese superstar dominated the fifth game, despite a last-ditch fight-back from Moregard, taking it 11-8.
He turned to his coach, who threw him in the air in triumph, the pair then grabbing a Chinese flag and acknowledging the baying crowd.
The gold brought redemption for Zhendong, who agonisingly lost out in the final of the Tokyo singles final, taking home silver.
"I knew I had to realise my dream at this Olympics after Tokyo," Zhendong told reporters after the match.
"I just had to do my best."
He said he found the match against Moregard "very challenging."
"The first two games he was excellent in defence and quick in attack. It took me time to break his rhythm. I needed to be calm and keep my mind straight," said Zhendong.
With 3.3 million followers on the Twitter-like Weibo, Zhendong is a celebrity at home and once had to ask his fans to restrain themselves after someone broke into his hotel room and stole his underwear.
In the bronze medal match, home hope Felix Lebrun comfortably beat Brazil's Hugo Calderano 4-0 for France's first-ever table-tennis medal.
China is the undisputed powerhouse of the sport and has again dominated in Paris. Chen Meng took gold in the women's singles in an all-China affair against Sun Yingsha.
Chuqin-Yingsha also took home mixed doubles gold.
Moregard said he could look back with pride at his Olympic performance.
"The way that I played, I can't be mad about that result. I really played 100 percent today and he was just the better player, so I'm standing here proudly with a silver," he said.
"With my draw and my seeding, a silver shouldn't be possible, so I'm super proud." - AFP