Although Taiwan's Chen Jing (
Chen won gold in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics and silver in 1996 in Atlanta.
World No. 1-ranked Wang Nan (王楠), from China, overcame a first-set loss to advance to the final, 12-21, 22-20, 21-17, 21-15.
Chen took control early, making the first set a quick and seemingly effortless exercise, winning 21-12.
Although throughout the match Chen appeared to be in control, it was Wang who applied the right pressure at the right time to gain the psychological upper-hand, causing Chen to drop a number of crucial points.
In the second set, Wang picked up the tempo and managed to break ahead of Chen to win 22-20, this after Chen had come back from five points down at 15-10. The second set was a long and grueling 15 minutes.
To speed up the game, the referee issued an expedite rule that requires that both players only get one service a turn, instead of five services per turn.
The third set was the turning point, Chen said after the match.
Chen was in control for most of the set, holding a two-point spread over Wang from 10-8 to 16-14. But after the two were tied at 16, Wang took over, passing Chen to win 21-17.
"I didn't have anything to counter Wang after she changed her strategy at 16," Chen said. Wang had begun to flatten out her volleys, forcing Chen to hit the ball higher and giving Wang a better angle for smash shots.
Wang said she felt that the expedite ruling had put her off a bit.
"In the beginning it affected me slightly because I didn't think we were out of time yet," Wang said.
In the fourth set, Wang won 21-15 as Chen continued to stumble. In the third and fourth sets, nearly half of the points Wang earned were from Chen's unforced errors -- from long or failed returns or shots into the net.
"I was confident I could win. She [Chen] is a strong offensive player. My preparation was to defend tightly," Wang said.
Wang will face her teammate and doubles partner Li Ju (
Chen's match yesterday with Wang was literally a competition between China's best talent over the past two decades. Wang, 22, is representative of China's brightest of the 90s, while Chen, 32, is the cream of the crop trained in China during the 80s. Players in the 1980s typically focused more on speed while players in China since then have put more emphasis on spin techniques.
As the technology of table tennis paddles and the skin on the surface of the paddles have become more advanced, strategies and techniques have evolved in step.
Chen first came to Taiwan in 1991, gaining permanent residence in Taiwan with the help of computer maker Acer, who then had a table tennis team.
Today, Chen will face Singapore's Jing Jun Hong (
If Chen wins the bronze she will be awarded NT$4 million by the government of Taiwan, and will receive NT$2 million for a fourth-place finish.
On the men's side, Wang Liqin and Yan Sen upset fellow Chinese pair Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang in four sets yesterday to win the men's double gold medal.
Wang and Yan played brilliant defensive table tennis to beat the defending champions 22-20, 17-21, 21-19, 21-18.
It was the fourth straight Olympics at which a Chinese pair had won the men's doubles title.
For Wang and Yan, the Little and Large of the sport, it was the first major title of their careers.
But the beaten finalists have another chance for gold as they have both qualified for the semifinals of the men's singles.
Patrick Chila and Jean-Philippe Gatien of France took the doubles bronze medal with a 22-20, 21-23, 21-19, 21-10 win over South Korean pair Lee Chul-seung and Yoo Seung-min.
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