China sweeps 4 golds at Hungarian Table Tennis Open

China claimed all the four gold medals in the men's and women's singles and doubles events on the final day of the Hungarian Table Tennis Open in Budapest, the first stage of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour 2012.

Top seed and world number one Ma Long beat South Korea's Joo Se Hyuk 4-3 in a thrilling men's singles final, while fourth seed Liu Shiwen beat Guo Yan, also of China, 4-2 in the women's singles final.

The men's and women's doubles events were won by Chen Qi/Ma Lin and Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen respectively.

The South Korean world number nine Joo, whose defensive style took him convincingly past the 36th seed Romanian Adrian Crisan (4-2) in the men's singles semifinal earlier on Saturday took the first game in the final 11-7.

Ma Long, who came through an absorbing seven-game contest with fourth seed Xu Xin in the semifinal winning 11-9 in the deciding game, responded swiftly by winning the second game 11-4. The South Korean swept the third game 11-4 but Ma hit back again taking the next by 11-4.

Joo won the fifth game 11-7 to took the lead again. Ma, however, fought back to win the next game 11-7 to take the final to a deciding game.

Although Joo clawed his way back from 8-4 down to level the game at 8-8 in the last game, Ma closed out the game 11-8 to claim the match and the gold medal. Joo Se Hyuk settled with the silver medal, while Crisan and Xu both received bronze medals.

In the women's singles final, the third seed Guo Yan took the first game 11-8 but fourth seed Liu Shiwen bounced back to win the second game 11-2.

Guo took the third game 11-7 but the tenacious Liu surged to the title by winning the next three games in a row (11-5, 11-6, 11-6).

Wu Yang, fifth seed and conqueror of world number one Ding Ning in the quarter-finals, was beaten 4-0 by Guo Yan in the semifinal but picked up the bronze medal as consolation, as did second seed Li Xiaoxia who lost 4-1 in the semifinal to Liu Shiwen.

In an all-Chinese men's doubles final, Chen Qi/Ma Lin beat Xu Xin/Zhang Jike 4-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6). In the women's doubles final, also an all-Chinese clash, Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen beat Fan Ying/Wu Yangwin 4-1 (11-4, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6).