Japanese pair reach men's doubles final with French player out with injury

A French team was forced out by injury as Japan's Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami advanced into the men's doubles final on walkover, organizers of the World Table Tennis Championships announced on Friday night.

Fifth seeds Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr had to pull out as the latter suffered an unnamed injury, sending the Japanese duo into a gold medal clash against Saturday's winners of the other semifinal, between Felix Lebrun/Alexis Lebrun from France and Kao Cheng-Jui/Lin Yun-Ju from Chinese Taipei.

The two Chinese pairs had been eliminated in early stages, marking the first time since 1975 that China has failed to reach the semifinals of the men's doubles event at the World Championships.