China won both gold medals as the singles competitions came to an end at the Paris Olympics – and English umpire Nico Caltabiano shared centre stage as he officiated the Men’s Singles gold medal match.
Nico was assistant umpire as second seed Fan Zhendong upgraded the silver he won at the Tokyo Olympics by defeating Sweden’s Truls Moregard in five games.
Moregard had beaten top seed Wang Chuqin in the last 32 on his way to the final, but was unable to repeat the feat as the No 2 seed won 4-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8).
There was delight for host nation France in the bronze medal play-off as teenager Felix Lebrun defeated Brazil’s Hugo Calderano 4-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6).
In the Women’s Singles final, defending champion Chen Meng retained her title by winning an all-Chinese clash 4-2 (4-11, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6) against top seed Sun Yingsha.
In the bronze medal match, Hina Hayata of Japan beat South Korea’s Shin Yubin 4-2 (9-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7).
Attention now turns to the team events which begin today with the round of 16.