Sydney Olympics doubles champion Wang Liqin of China pushed
aside Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner for a bronze medal in the
table tennis event Monday at the OlympicGames.
The 26-year-old Wang, men's double winner in Sydney four years
ago, dictated the match despite the first game loss before he
beatWaldner, 13 years his senior, 4-1 (10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 11-7,
11-9).
1992 Barcelona Olympics singles champion Waldner looked
anxiousduring the 24-minute match before he surrendered the victory
to his Chinese rival with a missed service.
Waldner protested over the camera flashes from the standings
when he was down at 0-3 in the third game but the brief
interruption failed to affect Wang, who led to take the game
11-8.
"Waldner is an experienced player who would use many tricks
during the match, but I got over all of them,"said Wang.
Waldner will be back home without a medal, which was his goal at
the Games after he was also shut outside the doubles semi-finals by
Michael Maze and Finn Tugwell of Denmark on Thursday.
"It was not my day today. I was a little bit tired but both of
us were," he said. "It would be fun to have won the bronze, but
life goes on."
(Xinhua News Agency? August 24, 2004)?