U.S. Women’s Team Eliminated
August 16, 2008
The US women’s team faltered on Saturday getting themselves bumped out of medal contention in the Olympic table tennis tournament. They were shut out 3-0 by Korea in Beijing’s PKU Gymnasium and will only be spectators for the women’s finals on Sunday.
Although the women were defeated in the bronze medal playoff it was still the best finish in Olympic table tennis for the U.S. marking improvement in the program. Never had an American team advanced past the quarterfinals before this Chinese-born American team had their shot on Saturday. Chen Wang, Crystal Huang and Gao Jun proved that the future may be bright for U.S. women’s table tennis.
Unfortunately the showing was not what was expected losing all three matches in the best-of-five format competition against Korea. Korea advanced to play Japan for the Bronze medal on Sunday prior to China playing Singapore for Gold later the same day.
Gao was sad to lose but was pleased that the team made a record for the U.S. team and bested their ninth seeded standing finishing in fifth place. Gao believed that they could have won vs. the Koreans if they would have taken more chances.
