Chinese table tennis veteran Xu Xin and rising star Sun Yingsha won the mixed doubles title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics simulation tournament in Linshui, south China's Hainan Province, on Monday. 

Xu and Sun paired to defeat Wang Chuqin and Wang Manli to win the mixed doubles at the German Open last year, and looked to repeat history here. 

They struggled in the first game, failing to maintain the lead as Sun hit the net and outscored by their opponents. The teams exchanged games and Xu hit the net again in the third game to lose to the Wangs in the game. The Wang combination came to an initial 4-0 lead in the fourth, but Xu and Sun managed to take the game. After winning the fifth game 12-10, Xu and Sun held on to take the sixth game 11-9 and won the match 4-2 for the title.

Earlier, Lin Gaoyuan and Sun Mingyang came back to defeat Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng 4-2 to win the mixed doubles bronze.

(Cover image: Xu Xin and Sun Yingsha at a simulation event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Linshui, Hainan Province, south China, August 10, 2020. /Table Tennis World's Weibo account)