China swept the men's and women's titles at the table tennis world team championship at Tokyo's Yoyogi Gymnasium Monday, overcoming the shock upset of world and Olympic champion Zhang Jike.

Zhang experienced his first ever defeat at a world championship after German player Dimitrij Ovtcharov upset him with a 13-11, 11-8, 11-6 win.

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However, Zhang's teammates helped keep China in the lead with Ma Long's initial defeat of Timo Boll (11-6, 11-9, 11-9) and Xu Xin's subsequent ousting of Patrick Franziska (11-5, 11-2, 11-9).

After Zhang's loss, Ma also took on Ovtcharov and defeated him with a score of 12-10, 11-5, 11-2, helping to seal China's winning title.

Preparation was the key to success for this year's team, according to player Xu Xin.  However, many still found themselves shocked by Zhang's unexpected loss.

Liu Guoliang, head coach of the Chinese team, addressed the issue by saying that the champion could push himself to learn from the experience.

China's women's team had fewer problems obtaining the women's titles this year. Ding Ning took on Japan's own Yuka Ishigaki in the four opening games, helping to seal the first victories with the following scores: 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 11-5.

World and Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia later beat Kasumi Ishikawa (11-8, 11-7, 11-7) and Liu Shiwen helped to seal the women's title for China when she outclassed Sayaka Hirano (11-4, 11-2, 11-5).

China's women's table tennis teams have reached every world team final since 1963 and have won over the competition a total of 19 times.

The head coach of the Chinese women's team, Kong Linghui, praised the team for their efforts and called out player Ding Ning for her consistently good performances.

Kong also said captain Li Xiaoxia proved to be a great leader at this year's championships and was a key component in leading the group to victory. 

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