Jun Mizutani made Japanese table tennis history Thursday, winning the country's first Olympic singles medal, a bronze, when he beat Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus 4-1 in Rio.
The gold medal match was a display of table tennis mastery when defending gold medalist Zhang Jike was completely dominated, and demoralized, by reigning world champion Ma Long.
Ma was controversially not selected for the London 2012 singles event, but he got his revenge in Brazil, playing with a passion and intensity on a level all of his own.