China has never been accused of taking its table tennis preparations too lightly. In the last year, the redoubtable squad has augmented its already unmatched training regimen with no less than three full-blown Olympic simulation tournaments. Now, just weeks ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) has found a new way to spice up their domestic dramatizations with a good old battle of the sexes. A best-of-three format, the matchup pitted the best of the best against the best of the best. First up, women's world #1 Chen Meng (pictured, right) took on men's world #1 Fan Zhendong. Back and forth they went, until it was Chen holding triple match point at 10-7 in the seventh. Fan fought back to 9-10, however, and looked to notch the equalizer. With Chen serving, Fan fired a signature banana flick cross-court. Instead of engaging in a low-risk, low-reward backhand-to-backhand exchange, Chen stepped around and fired a forehand bullet right back at Fan's backhand, forcing an error. With the women up 1-0, Xu Xin was charged with restoring the gentlemen's honor. In his way stood Sun Yingsha (pictured, left), who, like Xu Xin, is the second-ranked player in China. Their domestic parity translated to a tight match, going the full seven games. In the decider, however, it was never in doubt, as Sun rose to the occasion, 11-6. This gave the women the official win, 2-0 in the best-of-three. While Billie Jean King was uncorking the champagne, there was still one technically meaningless match to play. Although it was, as Joey Tribbiani on "Friends" would say, a "moo point" ("It's like a cow's opinion."), reigning World Champions Liu Shiwen and Ma Long were already suited up and ready to battle. Ma Long ultimately prevailed, 4-2, salvaging some measure of dignity for the gentlemen. In the end, everyone got world-class practice ahead of the Olympics, which of course was the CTTA's overarching goal all along. For the women, however, the victory over their more heralded male teammates was likely a little more meaningful.

More at Butterfly Online