ITTF Para World Championships draws to a close in Beijing

The local Beijing crowd had much to cheer for today as hosts China took home six gold medals during the team finals of the 2014 ITTF Para World Table Tennis Championships.

China won the Class 1-3, Class 5, Class 6-8 and Class 9-10 women's team events, defeating Turkey, Sweden, Germany and Poland in the process. But despite the strong performance, Chinese player ZHANG Bian says there remains room for improvement.

"We just partnered in the team event for about one year," Zhang said after her team's 3-1 win over Sweden in the class 5 women's team final. "We will practice more after this championship so we can win 3-0 straight the next time."

But despite winning both the Class 5 and 8 men's team finals, the Chinese men's team was unable to match the dominance of their female counterparts. Local hopes at the National Para Training Center were dashed by Poland and Germany, who defeated the hosts in the Class 9-10 and Class 3 men's team finals respectively.

"Our team believed we could win against China," said Poland's Patryk CHOJNOWSKI after his team's 3-1 victory. "We played against them in three finals in this competition, so we had to win at least one - and this was it. Everybody played good."

"One of our players didn't feel so good and was injured, so we had to change a little bit," added Polish coach Elzbieta MADEJSKA. "They couldn't play very strong so it was a surprise for the Chinese players. They expected very strong and tough fighting but it was often a very slow ball. They were waiting for the ball and it didn't come, so it was very good for us."

Germany's Thomas SCHMIDBERGER was in similar high spirits after his team defeated a Chinese squad that included world number one FENG Panfeng in their ranks.

"It is difficult against the Chinese players," said SCHMIDBERGER after his team's 3-2 win. "But everything is possible. We had to play our best table tennis to beat them and take the title today."

"It was really brilliant to have a German crowd here supporting us in Beijing with the German flag, celebrating when we are making good points," added SCHMIDBERGER, referring to a vocal group of German supporters living in Beijing, who were present to cheer their team on.

Korea and France were the other big winners on finals day. Korea took home gold in the Class 1, Class 4 and 11 men's team events, while France were crowned men's Class 2 champions. This brings France's total gold medal haul at the ITTF Para World Table Tennis Championships to three, an improvement from their performance at the 2012 London Paralympics.

"It was a great moment to win here at the World Championships for the French team!", said France's Stephane MOLLIENS. "It is a great moment for my partner (Fabian LAMIRAULT) to win both the singles and the team events."

In other results, Spain defeated Ukraine 3-2 to become Class 6-7 men's team champions, Serbia beat 3-0 Chinese Taipei in the Class 4 women's team final, and Japan took home gold in the Class 11 women's event after their 3-1 victory over Poland.

Please find a full list of newly crowned Para World Champions below:

Women's Teams Class 1-3: China

Women's Teams Class 4: Serbia

Women's Teams Class 5: China

Women's Teams Class 6-8: China

Women's Teams Class 9-10: China

Women's Teams Class 11: Japan

Men's Teams Class 1: Korea

Men's Teams Class 2: France

Men's Teams Class 3: Germany

Men's Teams Class 4: Korea

Men's Teams Class 5: China

Men's Team Class 6-7: Spain

Men's Team Class 8: China

Men's Team Class 9-10: Poland

Men's Team Class 11: Korea

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