60 years ago, Rong Guotuan won China's first world championship in table tennis. Since that watershed moment, China has become the preeminent force in the sport. While Rong's victory sent shockwaves through his homeland and the sporting world three generations ago, today it is news when anyone besides China can claim the odd world title in table tennis. The ZEN-NOH 2019 ITTF Team World Cup more than adequately illustrates this trend. While the best teams from every continent converged in Tokyo to battle for the prestigious titles, there was never any doubt who were the favorites to win. First up in the Sunday showdown was the men's final. After sweeping the United States and hosts Japan, China found themselves in the final against the Republic of Korea. The South Koreans Lee Sangsu and Jeoung Youngsik made matters quite interesting in the opening doubles match against Liang Jingkun and doubles specialist Xu Xin, coming back from 0-2 down to win it at deuce in the fifth. Down a match, China turned to its young ace Fan Zhendong. Showing the form that has seen him recently reclaim his world #1 ranking, Fan leveled matters with a sweep of Jang Woojin. The pivotal third game saw Liang Jingkun fall behind 2-1 to Jeoung Youngsik, only to pull it out in five games. With China now on the hill, Fan Zhendong brought matters to a close with a 3-0 dismissal of Lee Sangsu. "This was a very tough match indeed," said Fan Zhendong after the securing the decisive victory for China. "They made it a huge challenge for us, both for me and the rest of my team, but luckily we made it in the end. For sure, I am really looking forward to coming back here next year. I learned and analyzed lots of things from this whole tournament." With the men's title secured, the Chinese women's team looked to replicate the feat. In their way stood the host nation, hoping very much to spare China the inconvenience of lugging the World Cup through customs at the Tokyo airport. In the opening doubles match, Chen Meng and Liu Shiwen gave China the best possible start with a sweep of Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa and Miu Hirano. Japan's Mima Ito then nearly notched the equalizer against Sun Yingsha, instead seeing a 2-0 lead slip away as Sun won at deuce in the fifth. It then fell on Miu Hirano to preserve the Japanese fans' hopes for an improbable comeback. China, for its part, turned to Liu Shiwen to seal the deal, a task for which the reigning World Champion and women's World Cup titlist proved ideally suited. With a tidy (11-3, 11-8, 11-5) scoreline, Liu won her second World Cup in less than a month. With it, she provided her homeland of China with the latest in a seemingly interminable series of world titles. If only Rong Guotuan could witness his ever-unfolding legacy, to see to what heights those he has inspired have soared.

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