From September 19 to October 4, the 20th Asian Games were held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with table tennis staged in Toyota and Nagoya. China collected six golds across singles, doubles, mixed doubles and the women’s team — the only one it missed was the men’s team.

The men’s team final on September 24 was the heaviest match of the Games. China fielded Wang Chuqin as first singles, Wen Ruibo as second, and Lin Shidong as third, and lost 2-3 to Japan. The five rubbers: Wang came back from two games down to beat Sora Matsushima 3-2 (5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9) for China’s first point; Wen lost 1-3 to Tomokazu Harimoto; Lin beat Shunsuke Togami 3-1 (11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6) to put China ahead 2-1; Wang returned and was swept 0-3 by Harimoto (7-11, 4-11, 9-11); in the decisive fifth, Wen fell 1-3 to Matsushima (7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 8-11), and Japan celebrated on home soil.

Japan had waited 60 years for this — its last Asian Games men’s team gold was Bangkok 1966, and China had won eight in a row since Hiroshima 1994. It is also the first time in 36 years that China’s men’s team missed the Asian Games crown; the previous loss was Beijing 1990.

In the singles, China stayed dominant. Lin Shidong beat Wang Chuqin 4-0 (11-5, 11-8, 13-11, 11-5) for his first Asian Games singles gold; Wang Manyu beat Sun Yingsha 4-2 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 11-4, 15-13) in the women’s final. Across the event Lin took three golds — singles, men’s doubles with Huang Youzheng, mixed doubles with Kuai Man — and Wang Manyu matched that with singles, women’s doubles with Kuai Man, and the women’s team. They were the two brightest points of the Chinese squad.

Losing the team title was no ordinary away-day wobble. Harimoto and Matsushima can now stay with China point for point and turn a final around; sending 19-year-old Wen to face Matsushima in the decider exposed a real gap in big-match nerve. The women, by contrast, swept Japan 3-0 for a sixth straight team title and owned singles and doubles. Between the rise and the stumble, China’s post-Paris generational shift looks far more urgent on the men’s side.