Fan Zhendong defeats Lin Shidong to defend men's singles table tennis title at National Games

Shanghai's Olympic gold medalist Fan Zhendong defeated Hainan's World No. 2 Lin Shidong in five games to top the podium in the men's singles table tennis final at China's 15th National Games in the Macao SAR (Special Administrative Region) on Sunday.

The victory gave the 28-year-old Fan a second major title since announcing his withdrawal from the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) world rankings in January. He also became the second player to retain the title at the National Games after Ma Long.

The singles gold marked Fan's 10th overall medal at China's top domestic multi-sport competition, the most among the country's active paddlers.

Hainan's Lin, who is eight years younger than his opponent from Shanghai, got off to a quick start and grabbed a 9-4 lead in the first game, but Fan managed to rally for an 11-9 win.

Lin clinched the second game 11-8 to level the match, but that was his only highlight of the afternoon. Fan opened the third by jumping out to a 7-1 advantage, en route to prevailing 11-5 to regain the overall lead. He was even more dominant in the fourth game, triumphing 11-3.

The fifth game started with Fan surging into a 4-0 lead. Although Lin worked hard to fight back, he had no answers for the former World No. 1, and succumbed 11-4 to end the match. The 4-1 result saw Fan grab gold while Lin settled for silver.

Beijing's Wang Chuqin beat Liaoning's Yuan Licen 4-1 in the bronze medal contest to round out the podium.