Fan/Lin win All-Chinese final at Asian table tennis champs

WUXI, East China, April 15 (Xinhua) -- World No. 2 Fan Zhendong and his partner Lin Gaoyuan overcame a slow start to beat fellow Chinese Fang Bo and Zhou Yu 3-1 in the final of the men's doubles at the Asian Table Tennis Championships here on Saturday.

The better ranked duo easily granted the first set 11-5, but came back in the following, winning 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 to round up the match and lift the trophy.

It's the 13th men's doubles title won by a Chinese pair, the third in a row. Zhou Yu was the 2013 winner partnering Yan An, and Fan Zhendong was the defender here after being crowned two years ago pairing Xu Xin.

Earlier in the morning, Fan/Lin beat Japanese Koki Niwa/Maharu Yoshimura 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 and Fang/Zhou won over Wong Chun Ting/Ho Kwan Kit of Hong Kong, China 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 to set up the All-Chinese final.

According to Fang, the two Chinese pairs only played seven sets against each others during the national team's training session where Fang/Zhou lost as many.

Both the pairs were partnered with each others on provincial bases as Fan Zhendong pairs with world No. 3 Xu Xin for the coming world championships late in May while Ma Long partners Timo Boll of Germany.