Olympics-Table tennis-Ma shines as China retain men's team title

By Krystal Hu

PARIS (Reuters) -China successfully defended their Olympic men's team title after beating Sweden in three nail-biting matches on Friday as Ma Long cemented his status as one of his country's athletes.

Ma, already the most successful Olympic table tennis player, became the most decorated Olympian in China's history with six gold medals.

The 35-year-old Ma has said Paris will be his last Olympics, he has not made plans for a full retirement from the sport.

"After Tokyo, I didn't expect there would still be Paris. It's amazing that we've made it through these three years, and in the end, we were able to achieve the results from all our hard work, this is truly something special," said Ma, who was not selected to go for his third straight men's singles gold.

In the final, Chinese overcame Sweden 3-0, but each match ended up as a five-game thriller as the seventh-seeded Europeans pushed them all the way.

Both Sweden and France celebrated their ever medals in the table tennis team event, also marking the first time two European nations have stood on the podium.

In a repeat of the men's singles final, Sweden's Truls Moregard put up a strong fight against gold medallist Fan Zhendong.

Moregard, who lost 4-1 to Fan in the singles, played a smarter game with wide angles and handled Fan's powerful backhand better, winning the second and fourth sets.

Fan dominated the crucial points, however, and he took the deciding game 11-5.

Earlier, French teenager Felix Lebrun, who made history by winning the first bronze in table tennis singles for France since 2000, added another bronze to the host nation's delight.

Lebrun clinched two wins to help the French beat Japan, the Tokyo bronze medallists, along with his older brother Alexis and Simon Gauzy who lit up the South Paris Arena packed with enthusiastic home fans in an extended battle lasting over three hours.

"An Olympic medal is the dream of every table tennis player, and to be able to do this in France, with our family watching us, with this team, it's a moment we want to make last as long as possible," said Lebrun, who plans to celebrate even though he is too young to consume alcohol in France.

(Reporting by Krystal Hu in Paris, editing by Ed Osmond)