led a Chinese sweep at the Ogimura Cup Japan Open table tennis tournament Sunday, retaining her title with a hard-fought victory over world No. 2 and national teammate Li Ju in the women's singles final, Kyodo News reported. Wang Liqin, ranked third in the world, edged Ma Lin to capture the men's crown while the Chinese doubles pairs rounded out the country's perfect warm-up for the Sydney Olympics in the four-day meet held at Kobe municipal gymnasium.
Wang Nan cruised past South Korea's Ryu Ji Hye 21-12, 21-11, 21-18 in the semifinals and went on to beat Li 21-11, 22-20, 20-22, 19-21, 21-12 in a grueling final in which the world No. 1 won 10 straight points to pull away down the stretch in the final game.
Wang Liqin also squandered a two-game advantage in the men's final before edging sixth-ranked Ma 21-18, 22-20, 18-21, 18-21, 21-18, after finishing off semifinal opponent Cheung Yuk of Hong Kong 21-16, 21-10, 21-7.
In the men's doubles, Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang trounced the Taiwanese duo of Chiang Peng-lung and Chang Yuan-su, the only finalists of the day not hailing from China, 21-11, 21-18 in just 14 minutes.
The women's doubles title went to Sun Jin and Yang Ying, who battled back from one game down to beat Zhang Yining and Zhang Yingying 15-21, 21-14, 21-15.
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