Wang Liqin wins table tennis bronze

Sydney Olympics doubles champion Wang Liqin of China pushed aside Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner for a bronze medal in the table tennis event on August 23 at the Athens Olympic Games.

Sydney Olympics doubles champion Wang Liqin of China pushed aside Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner for a bronze medal in the table tennis event on August 23 at the Athens Olympic Games.

The 26-year-old Wang, men's double winner in Sydney four years ago, dictated the match despite the first game loss before he beat Waldner, 13 years his senior, 4-1 (10-12, 11-3, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9).

1992 Barcelona Olympics singles champion Waldner looked anxious during the 24-minute match before he surrendered the victory to his Chinese rival with a missed service.

Waldner protested over the camera flashes from the standings when he was down at 0-3 in the third game but the brief interruption failed to affect Wang, who led to take the game 11-8.

"Waldner is an experienced player who would use many tricks during the match, but I got over all of them,"said Wang.

Waldner will be back home without a medal, which was his goal at the Games after he was also shut outside the doubles semi- finals by Michael Maze and Finn Tugwell of Denmark on Thursday.

"It was not my day today. I was a little bit tired but both of us were," he said. "It would be fun to have won the bronze, but life goes on."