Yuya Oshima and Masataka Morizono gave Japan its first World Table Tennis Championships men's doubles silver medal in 48 years Sunday after being beaten 4-1 by the Chinese pair of Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin.
The last Japanese men's pair to win silver was Nobuhiko Hasegawa and Tokio Tasaka, who managed it in 1969. Top seeds Oshima and Morizono lost a tight match 11-9, 16-14, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11 to the powerhouse Chinese duo.
It was the third medal in as many world championships won by a Japanese men's doubles team, with other pairings having won bronze in 2013 and 2015.