China's men and women reached the table tennis team finals at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, with their sights set on winning the last two gold medals to complete a sweep of the five on offer at the Games.
Japan's women, following the men's devastating loss to Sweden on Wednesday, won 3-1 against a Germany team led by fast-rising 18-year-old Annett Kaufmann and face China in the final.
Despite first-time Olympian Miwa Harimoto, 16, losing 3-0 to Kaufmann in the second match, she secured the overall victory for Japan by winning 3-0 in the fourth contest against Shan Xiaona, who was scoreless in the final game.
China's women overcame South Korea in a one-sided match, with Korea surprisingly not using their best singles player, Shin Yu-bin, in the first singles match at South Paris Arena.
World No 1 Sun Yingsha dominated Lee Eun-hye, winning three straightforward games and allowing her opponent to score only nine points in total.
That was followed by another win from Wang Manyu, who beat Jeon Ji-hee and limited her to three points in the final game.
"No matter what order they play in, it's the same for us," said Chen Meng, who won the opening doubles with Wang.
PACKED STADIUM
Earlier on Thursday, China's men's met a bit more resistance, beating hosts France with a 3-0 scoreline that belied the close nature of the matches that captivated a packed stadium of French and Chinese fans.
From the start, French duo Alexis Lebrun and Simon Gauzy put pressure on China's top players Ma Long and Wang Chuqin and got to 11-11, but the Chinese seized match point and took the game 13-11 and then the match 3-0 to reach the final against Sweden.
Lebrun's 17-year-old brother Felix, who had lost 4-0 to Fan Zhendong in the men's singles semifinals, switched things up when the two met again and played better. He lost the first game and waslevel at 11-11 in the second before losing that too.
He took the third game 11-8 andin the fourth delayed his opponent's victory as long as possible with some incredible saves, earning loud cheers, before Fan eventually won 16-14.
"I think today was our best performance," said Felix, whose team face Japan in the bronze-medal match on Friday.
"We lost 3-0 but we all played great today, so I hope we can play even better tomorrow."
ANXIOUS WANG
Alexis, 20, was also impressive against world No 1 Wang Chuqin, with many spectacular lobs. He won multiple points by disrupting Wang's rhythm and forcing errors, taking the first game 11-7.
Wang then regained his footing and took three games in a row, limiting Alexis to one point in the last game.
"His lobs were quite threatening and I became a bit anxious, worried that he might switch to an offensive play," said Wang.
"I lost some patience but as the match went on I gradually became more comfortable with those high balls, so I started to get a better feel for the flow of the game.".
Despite table tennis not being a top sport in France, the men's match was widely broadcast on television and streaming services. The French players are not only gaining fans at home but earning praise and causing concern for the Chinese team.
"They're already one of our strongest opponents, especially judging from their performance in this match," said China's Ma, one of the most decorated players in the sport.
"Whether it's Simon or the Lebrun brothers, they're all relatively young, making them one of the best teams in the world."