Kanak Ja beat Cho Dae-Sung of South Korea to reach the round of 32 and then defeated Panagiotis Gionis of Greece.
PARIS, France — U.S. men's table tennis players have led the U.S. team to new heights.
Kanak Jha advanced to the round of 32 in the men's table tennis singles after defeating Panagiotis Gionis of Greece. He defeated Gionis 4-2. Jha became the first U.S. man to reach the round of 16.
Jia faced second seed Fan Zhendong of China in the round of 16 and lost 0-4, bringing his historic winning streak to an end.
Jae earned an upset win over South Korea's Cho Dae-Sung on Sunday to advance to the round of 32. Jae defeated Dae-Sung 4-2.
Daesung was seeded 15th in the tournament. Ja was seeded 59th and had to win in the qualifying round to advance to the round of 64.
Ja and Daesung shared the first two games of the match before Ja won three straight matches with scores of 11-8, 11-2, 11-2 and then 12-10 in the seventh game to secure the upset victory.
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Jha is the first U.S. table tennis player to reach the round of 32 in men's singles at a Summer Olympics since Jim Butler did so in Barcelona in 1992. By reaching the round of 16, he has reached a level never before reached by any other male table tennis player in Olympic competition.
This will be Jha's third Olympic Games appearance. He is a three-time Pan American Games medalist and five-time U.S. national champion.
In women's singles, Lily Zhang defeated Bruna Takahashi of Brazil 4-2 to advance to the round of 16. Zhang lost 0-4 to Shin Yu-bin of South Korea in her round of 16 match on Wednesday.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Team USA advanced to the Round of 16 thanks to Huang Liu. The highest finish Team USA has ever reached in women's singles was the quarterfinals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where Wang Chen played.
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