Ding Ning reacts after beating fellow Chinese player Li Xiaoxia during the women's singles gold medal match of table tennis at the Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 10, 2016. (Photo: China News Service/Du Yang)
China's Ding Ning edged past teammate and defending champion Li Xiaoxia 4-3 in a blockbuster final to win the women's singles table tennis title and the 10th gold for China at the Rio Games on Wednesday.
Earlier on the day, Xiang Yanmei shrugged off the unexpected neck injury to win the ninth gold for China in the weightlifting women's 69kg category.
Ding, who left the London Games with a silver medal four years ago amid tears, fell on her knees and sobbed into her hands after she sealed the final point against Li.
The two were matched set for set throughout, but Li faded in the final set losing at 11-7.
"I'm so excited, I can't believe I did it. I don't know how to explain my feeling, I feel that I became a lot more mature than four years ago. This is a very tough match, I think Li and I both did well," said Ding.
"In the final set, I played much tougher than my opponent, I am really proud of myself," added Ding.
DPR Korea's Kim Song I, who was playing in her first Olympics, took the bronze with a 4-1 win over Japan's Ai Fukuhara.
The all-Chinese final reflected the country's continued domination in the sport. World number one Liu Shiwen watched the final from the sidelines after failing to be picked for the singles event.
Lifter Xiang, winner at the World Championships in 2013 and 2015, failed in her third attempt in the snatch when she put the 118kg barbell above her head but suddenly the barbell fell awkwardly on her head and down her neck and dropped to the floor.
"I saw little sparks all of a sudden. I got hurt a little bit; I felt hurt when I knocked my head," Xiang said.
Despite the hiccup, the 24-year-old Xiang still took the lead and kept the momentum to jerk 145kg for a winning total of 261kg.
"I didn't think about it at all during the jerk, so it didn't affect my performance," she said.
Japan was the biggest winner on the fifth matchday in Rio, winning three golds to jump to the third place on the medals table.
Haruka Tachimoto and Mashu Baker struck double gold medals for Japan by winning women's 70kg and men's 90kg judo finals while star gymnast Kohei Uchimura won his second Olympic men's all-around title.
Kazakhstan swimmer Dmitriy Balandin caused one of the biggest surprises of the Rio Olympics so far by winning the men's 200m breaststroke gold medal.
Swimming in lane eight after qualifying last for the final, Balandin hit the wall in 2 minutes 07.46 seconds to beat Josh Prenot of the United States by seven hundredths of a second.
Mireia Belmonte claimed Spain's first gold medal in the pool by winning the women's 200m butterfly while teenager Kyle Chalmers clinched Australia's fifth gold medal of the Rio Olympics by winning the men's 100m freestyle.
In the last event of the day at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, the US team came out as the winners in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.
Elsewhere, Joseph Clarke from Britain clocked a time of 88.53 seconds to win a gold medal in the men's K1 in canoe slalom competition.
There are also wins for veteran cyclists Fabian Cancellara and Kristin Armstrong, who hammered home their Olympic superiority.
With rain and strong winds lashing Rio, the 35-year-old Cancellara marked his impending retirement by reclaiming the men's cycling time trial title he first captured in Beijing in 2008.
The four-time world champion Swiss was totally dominant as he beat Tom Dumoulin into second and Tour de France champion Chris Froome into third.
Armstrong, who turns 43 on Thursday, produced a courageous display in similarly treacherous conditions to claim her third consecutive women's time trial gold.
After Wednesday's finals, the United States leads the table with 11 golds, as China and Japan were at second and third on 10 and 6 golds respectively.
