Japan beats China to win table tennis gold

Japan's men's table tennis team has won the gold medal^*1 at the Asian Games. In the team final^*2, Japan beat China by three matches^*3 to two. The Japan Table Tennis Association, the group that runs table tennis in Japan, announced the result on Thursday, September 24.

The Asian Games are a big sports event for countries in Asia. This year, the games are in Aichi and Nagoya, in Japan.

The final had five matches. In the first match, Sora Matsushima of Japan lost to Wang Chuqin of China, 2 games to 3. In the second match, Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan beat Wen Ruibo, 3 games to 1. In the third match, Shunsuke Togami of Japan lost to Lin Shidong, 1 game to 3. China was ahead, two matches to one.

Then Harimoto played again. In the fourth match, he beat Wang Chuqin, 3 games to 0. Now the score was two matches each. In the last match, Matsushima beat Wen Ruibo, 3 games to 1.

Japan won three of the five matches, and China won two. Japan took the gold medal.

1. *1 gold medal: the prize for first place in a sports event
2. *2 final: the last match in a competition; the winner is the champion
3. *3 matches: games between two players or two teams in a sport