Maharu Yoshimura and Kasumi Ishikawa failed to defend their mixed doubles title, falling to China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen 4-1 in Friday's final at the World Table Tennis Championships.

A year ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, where mixed doubles will make its debut in the Olympic table tennis competition, Xu and Lin — defending 2017 world champions in men's and women's doubles, respectively — easily outclassed the Japanese pair.

Yoshimura and Ishikawa, winners in 2017, were also runners-up in 2015, when Xu partnered with South Korea's Yang Ha-eun to win the championship.