Olympics
China’s Chen hits back at critics after winning Tokyo table tennis gold
China’s Chen Meng hopes this will be the start of “my own era” after she defeated compatriot Sun Yingsha to win the women’s singles table tennis title at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday (July 29).
In a battle between the top two seeds and team-mates, Chen lost the first game before prevailing 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9 to grab her first Games gold.
Chen and Sun embraced at the end and then together unfurled a large Chinese flag.
China, who have now won 29 of the 34 table tennis golds in the history of the Olympics, will add one more on Friday – the men’s final is another all-Chinese clash between the top two seeds.
On Monday, China were stunned by the hosts in the final of the mixed doubles, Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito’s victory bringing Japan their first-ever Olympic table tennis title.
But China, who swept all the golds in the sport at the previous three Olympics, took over the men’s and women’s singles draws on Thursday to reassert their table tennis supremacy.
Chen said that gold was an emphatic riposte to those who had doubted her – at 27 she is the oldest woman to win the women’s singles crown.
“Over the years, I have experienced a lot, I have lost and I have been questioned,” she said defiantly.
“Only I know how hard it was to win today, so I want to tell myself – you did it.
“I hope from this moment that I can really begin to build my own era,” she added.
Ito, the home hope who had been seen as a threat to the Chinese, took bronze having lost comprehensively in the semi-finals to Sun.
Ito, who like Sun is just 20, admitted that there had been “a gulf in class”.
“My goal was to win, so I’m glad that I could win the bronze-medal match, but I feel more frustrated,” said the Japanese.
“I’m super frustrated.”
In the men’s semi-finals, China’s reigning Olympic champion Ma Long needed seven thrilling games to see off the determined Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany.
Ma meets compatriot Fan Zhendong for gold in another all-Chinese showdown, but the top seed was also made to sweat by Taiwan’s 19-year-old Lin Yun-ju, before emerging over seven similarly hard-fought games.
-AFP
The Olympic rings installed on the Eiffel Tower since June to celebrate the upcoming Olympic Games were removed from the Parisian monument early on Friday morning, as confirmed by an AFP photographer. But the Paris City Hall intends to replace them with a more permanent structure until 2028.
The five-coloured rings, measuring 29 metres in length and 15 metres in height, were placed between the first and second levels of the iconic iron structure on 7 June.
According to Inside the Games publication, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants the Olympic symbol to continue decorating the monument until the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
But the descendants of the tower’s creator, Gustave Eiffel are opposing the move. They are insisting that the Olympic rings are aesthetically in conflict with the concept and design of the Tower.
The 30-tonne rings initially installed on the Eiffel Tower were also not designed to withstand winter weather conditions.
Olympics
Despite Egypt winning 3 medals at Paris Olympics, President Al-Sisi orders sports system overhaul
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered a comprehensive evaluation of sports federations that participatedat the Paris Olympic Games, following a mission report submitted by the country’s sports minister.
The mandate includes a thorough expenditure check and a performance review to better highlight areas of improvement and fund allocation in future Games.
Additionally, the president plans to take necessary measures against federations —such as limiting funds— that had negative results in the Paris Games.
Egypt’s participation in sports where it lacks a competitive advantage will also be limited, as the president aims to direct resources to promising athletes to ensure optimal results. The president also aims to reduce administrative and technical staff within Olympic delegations and task relevant ministries with preparing future Olympic athletes.
Al-Sisi’s Olympic overhaul is to be presented to the cabinet for approval and urged the government to prioritise amending the sports law for the House of Representatives for review.
Egypt took home a total of three medals in the Summer Games. Ahmed El-Gendy triumphed in modern pentathlon, Sara Samir claimed the silver in weightlifting, and 21-year-old fencer Mohamed El-Sayed earned the bronze.
-Insidethegames
Paris 2024 sold a record 12 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, beating the Games record previously set by London 2012, organisers said on Sunday.
Some 9.5 million tickets were sold for the Olympics and 2.5 million for the Paralympics, which end on Sunday.
In 2012, London organisers set the record for the Paralympics with 2.7 million tickets sold but only 8.2 million were sold for the Olympics.
-Reuters
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