For only the second time since 1992, a country besides China has claimed gold in an Olympic table tennis event.
Japan's Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito interrupted China’s decades-long run of dominance in the sport by winning Monday night's mixed-doubles final. The Japanese pair rallied from two sets down to secure a tight 4-3 victory over China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen.
Before that surprise loss, China had been more dominant in table tennis than even the U.S. in basketball, Russia in weightlifting or South Korea in archery. The Chinese had won 28 of 32 table tennis gold medals awarded since the sport's 1988 entry into the Olympics.