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China's world number four table tennis player Fan Zhendong secured the gold medal in the men's singles competition at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Sunday.
In the finals of the men's singles competition, he defeated Sweden's Truls Moregardh by 1-4 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8). After winning the first game, Truls could not match the intensity of his Chinese opponent and had to settle for a silver. Zhendong had previously won a gold medal in the men's team event at the Tokyo Olympics and a silver in men's singles. But as an individual competitor, he finally went a step ahead to win a gold. Zhendong has eight World Championship gold medals as well, besides two silver and bronze medals each. He has two gold medals in singles competition, four in men's team event and two in men's doubles event at the World Championships. Besides this, he has eight World Cup golds and a silver, including four singles gold medals. Zhendong, a former world number one player, also has eight Asian Games medals, including five gold medals and three silvers. Three of these gold medals have come in team events, while one each has come in doubles and singles. The bronze medal match was between France's Lebrun Felix defeated Brazil's Hugo Calderano by 4-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6) in a battle between fifth and sixth-ranked paddlers respectively. In table tennis for India, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula created history by reaching the Round of 16 in women's singles and becoming the first Indian paddlers to do so. However, India has yet to win an Olympic medal in the sport. On Monday, the Indian women's team will play a round of 16 match against Romania while the men's team will start its campaign against China in round of 16 on Tuesday. (ANI)
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