Taiwan men's table tennis duo lose in ITTF World Championships final

Taipei, May 25 (CNA) Taiwanese table tennis players Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and Kao Cheng-jui (高承睿) secured a silver medal in the men's doubles at the 2025 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar on Sunday, losing to their Japanese opponents in the final.

The Taiwanese duo, the sixth-seeded men's doubles team in the International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF) premier tournament, were defeated by the Japanese world No. 2 pairing of Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami 2-3 in the title match.

Lin and Kao, who were appearing at only their second international event as a doubles pairing, took an early lead by winning the first game 11-6.

However, the Japanese team bounced straight back to win the second game 5-11 and draw level.

In the third game, the Taiwanese pair again ran out winners with an 11-7 victory to take a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth game, Lin and Kao failed to take their chances, with their Japanese opponents winning 6-11 to take the match to a 2-2 tie.

In the deciding game, Lin and Kao were unable to rally, losing by 11 points to six, with the Japanese duo taking a hard fought 3-2 victory and the gold medal.

This was the first time in 12 years a men's table tennis duo from Taiwan has won a medal at the ITTF World Championships.

Taiwan had its best performance in the tournament when the men's doubles team of Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) and Chen Chien-an (陳建安) won the country's first gold medal in 2013.

The 23-year-old Lin and his 20-year-old partner teamed up for the first time at the Singapore Smash 2025, attracting a lot of attention with a sensational runner-up finish in their debut tournament in February.