Chinese Zhang Yining beat teammate Wang Nan 4-2 to win the women's singles gold medal at the Olympic Games on Friday.  [Xinhua]

World number one Zhang Yining won her fourth Olympic gold, beating teammate Wang Nan 4-1 in an all-Chinese women's singles table tennis Olympic final Friday evening.

Zhang won 8-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3, becoming the third Chinese table tennis player to pocket four Olympic golds, after legendary Deng Yaping and Grand Slam veteran Wang.

It was also the 19th Olympic gold medal that China won in table tennis since its national sport was introduced at the 1988 Seoul Games.

With a 4-2 win over Singapore's Li Jia Wei, China's Guo Yue finished third, a disappointment for the world champion who had rarely finished lower than second in international singles tournaments in the last two years.

Guo failed to reach the final because of her 4-2 loss to "Big Sister" Wang, who is going to retire and determined to win as much as possible at her last Olympic Games.

Wang Nan

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)