China wins the first women's table tennis team event

A momentous day for both Chinese and Singaporean table tennis. China won three matches to zero in the finals of the first ever womens table tennis team event. Consisting of the best of five matches, China won the first three matches conceding only two games to Singapore.

Wang Nan of China lost the opening game of the first singles final to Feng Tianwei of Singapore but then proceed to lock Feng out to win three games to one. Zhang Yining produced a similar result, beating Li Jiawei three games to one.

The deciding double match of Guo Yue and Zhang Yining started shakily but then took the first game from behind to dominate beat Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei three games to nil.

This game marks a historic moment for both nations as China is the first country to win this new team table tennis event. The silver medal won by Singapore is also the first medal won by the island nation since 1960 and the first ever medal since gaining full independence in 1965.

There is however some controversy about the Singaporean team as all three members originally hail from China. Li Jiawei, the most experienced of the Singapore team is originally from Beijing and immigrated to Singapore in 1999. Wang Yuegu is originally from Henan and Feng Tianwei is originally from Heilongjiang, and only became a Singapore citizen this year. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his National Day address today (that was postponed so as not to clash with the table tennis) justified this by saying that Singapore with a population of one three hundredth of China and a declining population must rely on foreign talent to grow.

To see a twitcast of the three games click here

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