Japanese men through to table tennis semis

Friday 15th August, 07:08 AM JST

BEIJING —

National champion Jun Mizutani played a pivotal role with singles and doubles wins to help Japan beat Hong Kong and earn a spot in the semifinals of the men’s table tennis team competition at the Beijing Olympic Games on Thursday. Japan’s women’s team were unable to follow suit, however, after a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to bitter rival South Korea denied Ai Fukuhara and her teammates a place in the last four. Chinese-born Yo Kan put Japan up and Mizutani downed Yuk Cheung in four sets before teaming up with Seiya Kishikawa in the doubles, in which they survived seven match points in the final game to pull off a 5-11, 11-4, 12-14, 14-12, 15-13 win over Athens Olympic silver medalists Li Ching and Ko Lai Chak.

With the victory over Hong Kong, Japan finished top of its group with three wins in as many matches in the preliminary round, and will next meet Germany in the semifinals. ‘‘Luck was on our side in the doubles and I guess we might have lost the match 3-2 had they won one more point,’’ Japan head coach Yoshihito Miyazaki said after the victory, which boosted his team’s chances of winning the first-ever medal in Olympic table tennis for the country. ‘‘We have gone through a training program aimed at making our doubles team much more competitive that it was before. It paid off nicely on this occasion and it was a wonderful match,’’ Miyazaki said.

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10 Comments

flammenwerfer at 08:05 AM JST - 15th August

ping pong? wheres the report on the mens volleyball game - Japan v China? What a fantastic game, simply riveting. There was table tennis on another channel and the excitement was light years apart.
rajakumar at 08:18 AM JST - 15th August

Way to go team japan(table tennis).
Pukey2 at 09:16 AM JST - 15th August

wheres the report on the mens volleyball game - Japan v China?

No report? Well, you know what that means.
USNinJapan2 at 09:32 AM JST - 15th August

flammenwerfer

My sentiments exactly. Was a great volleyball match although the Japanese team choked with victory in sight as usual. Thought the home crowd was a little rude the way they booed every Japanese serve...
ExPrinceska at 12:23 PM JST - 15th August

No report? Well, you know what that means.

Great play from team Japan-volleyball. If the game was in Japan, they would have won!

Congratulations on ping pong win, Japan almost lost against honk Kong but somehow managed to survive and win!
ExPrinceska at 02:18 PM JST - 15th August

Where is the reporting on all the other sports that are going on at the olympics?

Here only coverage of team Japan and Michael Phelps.
roomtemperature at 09:31 PM JST - 15th August

The home crowd a LITTLE rude? It's an absolute disgrace the way the hosts behaved. While the Japanese athletes waved a Japanese AND a Chinese flag during the opening ceremony. Luckily the Chinese media couldn't filter this out, like they can with any kind of protest by delaying live coverages with a few seconds. So they have just enough time to quickly switch to another camera. Anyway, the Chinese crowd didn't even realize how they humiliated them selfs. The booing shows they simple look up at Japan. Uncivilized Chinese!!
Pukey2 at 03:23 PM JST - 17th August

Yes, I agree it's not nice to boo, but have you ever seen other tournaments around the world, especially football matches. Have you seen Roland Garros? That's part of playing in public. You have to get on with the game, and most people learn to ignore it.

Uncivilized Chinese??? I don't know about you, but I watched the volleyball tournament (the women's one, just before the Olympics) when games were played in Japan, Hong kong, Macau and then Japan again. In both HK and Macau, there were lots of applause for the Japanese team when they scored points. Meanwhile in Japan, when the opponents scored points, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Oh yes, no booing though.
Loki520 at 03:29 PM JST - 17th August

There's a load of difference between quiet and active booing.
roomtemperature at 07:00 PM JST - 17th August

Yes, Pukey2, uncivilized Chinese!!! That's why the organization had to hand out manner guidebooks to the home crowd. Not that it helped a bit, they were even booing when Japan's opponent wasn't Chinese. And please don't compare football matches or Roland Garros with the Olympics. Behavior like this is totally unacceptable from the host of the Olympics. The japanese athletes showed their goodwill by waving Chinese flags as well during the opening ceremony. The reaction from the Chinese? Indeed.....uncivilized!!!

Loki520

Spot on!!!