All-Chinese women’s final at Olympics: Ding vs Li

LONDON: It’ll be an all-Chinese final in women’s table tennis singles – as expected – between the two favorites Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia.

Defending world champion Ding, who goes into Wednesday’s final as the favorite, defeated Feng Tianwei of Singapore 4-2. Feng was born in China and emigrated to Singapore.

Li will be a decided underdog after defeating Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan 4-1. Ding has won six of 10 official matches against teammate Li, and defeated her in the final last year of the world championships. Ding has won six of their last seven matches.

Feng and Ishikawa will play for bronze on Wednesday.

China has monopolized pingpong, winning 20 of 24 gold medals since the sport was introduced in the 1988 Olympics. Four years ago it won all three medals in women’s singles, prompting the sport’s governing body to limit men’s and women’s singles entries this time to two per country.