Olympics: South Korea seize men's team table tennis bronze

Tuesday 19 August 2008

BEIJING - South Korea downed Austria to win bronze in the men's team table tennis on Monday, shattering the Europeans' hopes of clinching its first Olympic medal in the sport.

South Korea, boasting defending Olympic singles champion Ryu Seung-Min, fought off a ferocious challenge from the Austrians, led by former world champion Werner Schlager, before winning 3-1.

"We are really, really happy because this is the first team match and we got the bronze medal. I thank very much my teammates and the coaching staff," Ryu said. "I will do my best in the singles matches," he added.

South Korea's Oh Sang-Eun dashed Austria's hopes in the first game, downing Schlager 3-1.

But Robert Gardos came out firing in the second match, taking the first two sets against Ryu before the South Korean clawed one back, only for the Austrian to clinch the fourth.

With the encounter locked at 1-1, South Korea's Yoon Jae-Young and Oh produced a scorching display of table tennis in the doubles, to whitewash the Austrian duo Gardos and Chen Weixing.

Ryu returned to the tables against Chen, and this time redeemed himself, downing the Austrians 3-0 and hand the South Koreans bronze.

"I didn't play at my peak level but this is human you know," Schlager said.

"We are fourth and this is the best result for the Austrian team so far, and I think we can be proud of that," he said.

In the men's team final, China defeated Germany for the gold.

Men's and women's team competition was held for the first time in Beijing since table tennis was introduced at the 1988 Seoul Games, replacing doubles.