FULL MATCH - Lin-Huang vs Wen-Yuan - MD Final - #USSmash 2026

Alternating shots is a must in doubles. Serve from the right side of the table on the diagonal, a must as well. Free forehand, Gwen leads on just like that replay we saw from the last round. Semi-final, finishing shot. Players signal to each other cryptically under the table on serve and receiving sides. Good touch here, the soft hands. In case you're wondering why they rub the table, they're drying their hands. They do it up near the net where the ball's unlikely to bounce. And the reason they do that is because you're only allowed to use the towel every multiple of six points on the scoreboard. Man, was that slick. Fast down the line, Hwang Yeo-jung. Gwen Lee-Tsun's opening forehand has been quite strong. Funny. His frame is thin, he's light. Nice one, Hwang Yeo-jung. He's talking about the physicality of Yuen Lee-Tsun. It reminds me a little bit of Ling Gao-Yuen. Miss you, man. The old hung here. He's also the personal coach previously. For Ling Gao-Yuen, the dark knight. So the first towel break, it's the top seeds. Top of the scoreboard. Won-Rae Bull looking for that forehand flick. Even as a tall guy, it's tough. It's one of the toughest shots in the game. Wonderful long push, Won-Rae Bull. Getting a soft spin out of Hwang Yeo-jung and then it's countered back. Sort of an awkward blocking way. Just guiding forward, Yuen Lee-Tsun. Ripper on the backhand. There's so much inspiration to take from the footwork, the movement, but also the decision-making. Table tennis is a game of recognizing opportunities and quickly deciding to start. Not a lot of time between shots. Break off the top of the net for Yuen Lee-Tsun. Three points in a row out of the towel break for the under-seeded pair, the underdogs. Short side of the table, ain't no thing. Turns, gets near the LED barrier. Making his moves so quick to turn. Won-Rae Bull back, watching the base. Secret, secret there. Facing away, the lip reading on the other side. Hwang Yeo-jung's another guy with a light frame. At least the upper body, but the legs. Got the dimples in all the right places for the muscles that power these shots. Six, six. Every once in a while, you might hear a crowd member start to cheer on the player that's down, or the Chinese team in general, but. Seven, five. Five, seven, my bad. Fair play. And by fair play, I mean, oops. Five, seven. There we go, fair play, good. I like it. This is the Chinese spirit. It wasn't the team that had seven who said, hey, we're missing a point. That was speaking to what I was just about to say, or starting to tell you, that it's all about the team in China. The nail that stands up must be hammered down. Collectivism is powerful. Five. Eight, six. In that act of fair play, Lin Shidong saying, hey, our opponents actually have one more, and we have one less. It was pretty exemplary. Two points in front here, the underdogs. Yuan Litsun with the serve. Smart play, the touch. Short to the forehand of Huang Youzheng. The placement was smart for a few reasons. Huang Youzheng gets caught in the middle as an obstacle in the way of Lin Shidong for the next shot. It covers well with the backhand here. So not able to set up four game points. The trust in the backhand from Youzheng. You might not hear tons of cheering, no coaches on the benches, but for points like this, we have to remember, they're fighting for a reason. And that reason is the opportunity to represent China on the biggest stage. Nine, nine. To remind the coaching staff that you're capable of being given bigger opportunities. Bigger than a grand smash? Well, they don't come much bigger. But maybe playing another one, qualifying, being in the race to the WTT Finals, all of these opportunities, when push comes to shove, you got to show the coaches that you're capable of being the best in the world. Nine, nine. One Ray Bordassov. Nine, nine. Racing through for a backhand. These rallies are extending quite a bit. So the forehand there of Huang Youzheng. Full stretch. Lin Shidong trying to exhale stress. It's game point for the underdogs against the top seeds. Ten, nine. Chop block ripped. One rip to Barrierville. Was not an easy one to play. Touch. Here's the chop block. Lin Shidong, a master of that shot. And the full whip. One Ray Boa. Second game. Win to serve. Zero, zero. So one Ray Boa to serve in game number two after taking game number one. Tight serve. Yuan Litsun on many occasions was able to hit a winner with his step around forehand to both corners. So calling for the serve there, Yuan Litsun. One, one. There's something so picturesque about the technique of one Ray Boa. He's a tall guy, an athletic guy. He puts a lot of pace on the ball. That leap, the jumping shot, and Huang Youzheng a bit of side spin with the top spin to keep it deep to the backhand. Brushing, bending backhand. B cubed over there from Huang Youzheng. Look at the curve on this ball and it's left at about net height for one Ray Boa to try and calculate what's on it. Impressed by that. You must not have seen it. Side spin on it as well. Lin Shidong sends it to the baseline. Massive point right there. The highlights reel is gonna be nuts. Five, one. See how much spin is on that ball as it comes down on his own side of the table and then races across the court. The ball spinning faster than a race car tire. Table tennis, if you've never played with professional equipment, you haven't even tasted. It's like having ice cream with no sugar. You just have no idea what it's about. Five, two. The spin that these rackets can produce. They're tough to control at first, but don't let that deter you from really taking on the game. Three, five. See the open face there for the push as it comes along. Four, five. It's always interesting to see within Team China who gets opportunities when, where, and why. I say that because one Ray Boa at 19 years old has a bright future. A lot of players, a lot of fans were surprised they didn't see him in London as more than a practice partner. Four, six, four. That said, Team China knows table tennis and well, you saw the outcome. All that to say, if he wasn't on the team, that would be my reaction in two years. Next time around, come Japan. Ooh. Six, five. Little bit of an early turn there, Huang Youzheng. Thought he knew what was coming? In the replay, you can understand why. Yuan Licun had every sign showing cross court. Lin Shidong was world number one for what felt like about six months. Seemed unbeatable. Star of the Shidong Show. He's currently at world number five in a little state of limbo, which is crazy to say about someone world ranked number five but when you've been world number one for so long. Seven. Still got a lot of work to do. The chase in this rally. Look how wide that angle is. And Yuan Licun curving the other way. Perfection in that point. Eight, six. Inside the table, Lin Shidong. Little hop step, little Muhammad Ali out there. Cassius Clay play. It's exciting to see the stars. Huang Youzheng with Chen Yuanyu came up at the same time. One ray ball just sort of stepped into the mix. Shidong closing it out. Sliding across there. Watch this move. Lin Shidong so quick. How did he get any backswing on that at all? That right there was some physical strength. Is he making a heart in that sign? We'll have a chance to see later. Two point lead for the pair on receipt. Eight, nine. Cut in half. Sharing is caring if that was a heart on that sign. Lin Shidong's got a big heart. He's a friendly guy, he's a funny guy and you might remember that giant hug he shared with Wang Hao. Covering Shidong behind the table. And two game points now for the top seeded pair. See how loose Lin Shidong was after he contacted the ball? It was a very efficient stroke. No wasted energy. We'll hear players that recently got coaches saying should have followed through more. Why? You already hit the ball. 10 serving eight. And that's all they need. 11-8. So one game apiece. The plot thickens here in this all Chinese affair. It's a masterclass of pace, power. It's up right before they dive into game number three. A bit of adrenaline here. The sounds you heard. Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng with the momentum after winning last game. Oh, what a move. Shot maker. Zero. Out of all the players on court, Lin Shidong is far from the greatest wingspan. Yet he manages. Reaching. Zero. Two. Shot to the chest on that one. Lin Shidong, no problem. Trade that time and time again. Zero. Three. Remember, this is the best of five. Heavy underspin on the serve. And when the push comes back, the length was just right. Three. One. Three. Two. Tightening up the score line here. One point between this pivotal third game to see who will get one game closer. Three. Tied up at the towel break here. This is back to the order of play that favored the pair in purple. Yuan Litsun and Wang Ruibo. After all, they won game number one in this order of play. The order of play switches every game. The serving team gets to choose who will serve, which then determines who will receive. And the wide forehand chase. Check this out. Huang Youzheng, a long way to go. Short side, that's a bit of a risk. Wow. Lionheart-esque in that chase. Four. Four points apiece here. Around that corner, it's dangerous. Again, Akash Paul, we hope your stitches are healing up. Baldwin Chan managed to get through. Huang Youzheng still taking a piece of the back of the table, or letting the back of the table take a piece of him, rather. Five. Well played to handle the long push of Wang Ruibo. Yuan Litsun had a lot of ground to cover. And when you know where someone's moving, you know where the target is, or at least where it will be. This is why there's a split step in many racket sports, so that you're more agile and ready to adapt. But once you commit early, like jumping, leaving your feet to try to block a shot in basketball, it's easy to draw the foul once someone's left at feet. Well played! Seven, five. So the top seed's in front by two. It's been back and forth from 4-4 to 5-5, but two in a row here. Able to finally step ahead. Lin Shidong with the Zhang Wujin Superman Fist. Not everybody's celebrating the exact same way, but those two, quite notably in recent history. Oh! Six, eight. A few swings at that. No Christian Carlson success, though. That did happen against Lin Shidong. One of two amazing one-in-a-million moments to happen in that same match. Quality push. Yuan Lichun, this was his bread and butter from the start of this match. Soft hands, heavy push. And the depth, not quite as deep as Yuan Lichun would have liked that to be, to lift. Huang Lichun, jiayou! Oh, fault called. Not vertical is the call. Ooh! A yellow card as well, potentially. By Yuan, and win. Angle, not vertical. Interesting. Pile them up. Correct. Well, we'll see. So, 30 degrees or less, and the call is reversed. More than 30 degrees, the assistant umpire's call stands. This one, usually, the umpire's are right. Good to see yourself on the big screen in the front row. Okay, TTR. More than 30 call stands. 30 or less. Ooh, it's a high enough toss. Let's see. Should be close. Oh, that's wide. That's gotta be over, yeah. From the first angle. But when they open it up, you can see. 5.74 over the angle limit. It's not the PCH from our graphic. It's not unlimited on service toss. It's four game points for the number one seats. Two to one, up they go. One game. Fourth game, win the serve. Zero, zero. One game away. Pair in red. One, zero. A bit of local music from our DJ between games the last few games. We'll see. It is a jungle out here. Zero, two. Meaning you've got beasts at the table. And on any given day, someone can pull out a peak performance. Athletes can't consistently. But everyone has their day. Oh, closure. Zero, three. Like a letter from your ex-girlfriend explaining why she left. This right here was closure of that racket out to the wide forehand of Huang Youzheng. Slightly different, but still closure. Four, zero. In a moment here where the wingspan finally is outdone by the angle of the shot. One Ray Bull holding his hand high, not showing his cards early. How'd he get on top of that? The speed coming in. It's not reaction time. It's recognizing patterns. Well, it's a combination of the two, but it's not just reaction time. Four. This is why studying the game is so important. Players often know before the opponent hits the ball, what's most likely to come. You see this in all sorts of sports out here. The speed with which they do it is mind-blowing, as you can see. Four. What did he say? Did he say that it hit his shirt? Wow. They're gonna TTR a T-shirt after that? TTR, do it. I just want to know. Please TTR it. Where's Shasha? Shasha, tell them to take the TTR. Think T-shirt for them? Challenge? Okay. Oh yeah, baby. Here we go. Inspector Gadget coming in with the magnifying glass. Ball and Lin for obstruction. Contact to the T-shirt. Can you imagine if this point is taken away? Wow. I love it. Chutzpah Yo Jung. Man, they're gonna really have to look through angles to see because it's not always so clear if it hits someone's shirt. Kunuk John Darko Jorgic have been friends since Darko was 13 and Kunuk was 11. And Darko genuinely thought the ball hit his shirt. And later we would see. Check it out. I don't know. You can understand why it looked like it would have. It didn't look like it to me. No obstruction. Challenge failed. Current challenge one for Lin and Wong. Okay. So one unsuccessful challenge remaining. Two, five. That was cool. TTR, whoever's operating TTR. Well done. I know who it is. Let's just say that person's a legend of the game. Beautiful turn there to go out wide to that forehand. Seven, two. The way things are going, we might get one more game. And if we do, I hope we get to see that rally with the shirt suspicion. The rally itself is truly spectacular. We haven't seen a lot of Yuan Li Cun in recent times, but in doubles right now, he is just creating quite a highlights reel. Tearing it up. Post and out. Must hit the opponent's side of the table. Can hit the net post and come into play. Tight serve. The number one seeds, the number one world-ranked players by not a lot of points just yet. Although they will be come 4 p.m. Singapore time on Monday, because they're leaving here with at least 1,400 points. That forehand. The shot just seemed perfect. Huang Youcheng, no problem. By the way, the slow-mo replay from the point before this, if you have any friends who are like, ping pong's not a sport, well, that'd be a perfect one to show them. Just have them watch the pros, that's it. Six, nine. Man, timeout. Nope, just a hand wipe near the net on the table. Saving it. They're hoping to get to game five without having to pull their lifeline here. Welcome back, frames. Six, nine. You got cryptic signaling on the receive side as well. Discussing the plan under the table. Oh, wow. Nine, seven. Love to see the spin Shidong put on this one. And now the timeout. That was very unusual. Check out what Lin Shidong does. With almost no backswing, a slow, spinny backhand for the minute is up. Nine, seven. Shidong in the house. Love the sounds. Down the line to set up three game points. One-ray pull, beating Lin Shidong to the place he needed to be for that counter. We are going on a field trip to the D, to the Psy, to the Der. One more game, the fifth and final game. So, one-ray pull telling you, grab those snacks and healthy beverages and tell your friends what to be watching if they're not already the final game of the night. The game that will determine who are the champions. He's like, this smash experience has been so much fun. Shout-outs on the global feed. Who knows? The decider, game five begins. Oh, no, with a 10-foot pull. Call him a taxi. That one is way out there. The coverage on this one-ray pull. Like a mama bird on a rainy day over the nest. One, one. A little bit less dramatic here. Service for an outright point, keeping that hand cool on both sides, everybody. Ball dry, palm dry. One point apiece. Taste of his own medicine. Lin Shidong, for the first half of this game, will be hitting the one-ray pull and he had a lot of shots like this. So, just in case you were curious, the stats, Lin and Huang, the pair in red, 66% in deciders. The other side, 66% less. Zero. Because they've only played one decider. And you did the math. They didn't win it. So, living up to the hype right now with a one-point lead here. The world number one, Huang Youzheng, setting up Lin Shidong for a third ball. Pretty good response on the other side. Not an easy third ball. When you're only serving to half of the table, it's a little bit more predictable. So, Yuan Lichun is able to make more of that from over the table with the racket tipped down. Subtle reminder from Clayton. Wonder if there was a funny facial expression on the other side, as if to say, come on, man. Three, four. It's funny. Team China's incredibly strict on behavior. No flashes in the audience. Yuan Lichun got a red card, but not for something like this. Quite memorably against Alexis Lebrun, who serves incredibly fast. Doesn't take a lot of time before serving, just like his brother. Five, three. So, they will switch sides in order of play, which means one Ray Bo is going to be able to hit back at Lin Shidong, like we saw last game. It's always nice to get to five first. Doesn't climb. Six, three. Stays shy on the back side of that net. And a three-point lead for the world number one pair in red. Lin Shidong with a second serve. Four, six. Serve comes just a little bit long here, and Yuan Lichun is able to tuck and rip. Suddenly the pressure on Huang Youzheng. Showing how he's able to adjust in these counters. Sometimes in doubles, we get rallies that we wouldn't otherwise get, but when it's four Chinese players on the table. It's almost always this way. Timeout for Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng as it's a one-point game now. Six. Second serve here from a pair with a bit of momentum. Yuan Lichun, second serve. Tough way to get into a point. Seven, five. Yuan Lichun pushing from that far behind the table is going to quickly apologize to one Ray Bo. Okay, just a bit of a reaction. Good placement on the other side to bring him into the table to push there. Number one in the world, closer by two points to that finish line to become champions. Good reach by Huang Youzheng and almost to get the hustle from Shidong. We've seen him on the chase quite a lot. Good bend. One Ray Bo in perfect position. It knows to add the side spin to it. And every time they start to get close, the world number one just pulls away. What's going on in this relationship? Is it something that was said? No, they're obviously both racing for that big prize money, 10 grand, big trophies as the Chinese team watches on. Huang Youzheng, welcome to the coaching staff this year. Oh, hold table open and one Ray Bo makes it right back. I always like looking at the Chinese team in the crowd because you get to see some legends of the sport, current and past. And Shidong Jiao on that big red sign. Keeping that distance. World number one would love to distance themselves even more from Felix and Alexi. You never know when that world ranking might pay off. Oh, right down the void. Yuan Lichun with a crazy shot here. Backhand as he sees Huang Youzheng turning. Man, was that one pretty. But I liked it for its personality. One point between them in this tight game number five. And they get the serves back. The final two serve combination of this match. Lin Shidong nodding the head just to say, okay, respect, quality shot. So one Ray Bo calling for the serve he thinks will set him up best for a third ball attack. Love to see that again. Championship points set up, but the receive was quality. One Ray Bo put under pressure. Here's what they're playing for. Two people are gonna take those tall trophies with them. Bring it home, someone said. They win it, they will. This is a major opportunity. The world number one defeated by unseated opponents. One Ray Bo we've been talking about for some time. Yuan Lichun, those guys really delivered the goods. And as spectators, we got what we wanted. We got rallies, we got the underdog story. Lin Shidong fans in the crowd and Huang Youzheng fans in the crowd will be thrilled to know that despite them not getting what they wanted, it's taken home to Team China. Champions in Cali, baby. They're going back, back, back to champions in Cali. So another title here, champions and a grand smash. The underdogs, the Chinese pair, Yuan Lichun and one Ray Bo. After 48 minutes of play, exactly 47 points per team. Wow, serve percentage. Welcome to US Smash 2026. Coming to you live from the Maverick Arena, this is the men's doubles final trophy presentation. Before we begin, let us welcome the presenters for this special occasion. WTT Senior Event Manager, Mr. Karl Indra. WTT Match Officials Manager, Ms. Tina Karata. WTT China Media Director, Ms. Zhou Dao. And WTT Partnerships Director, Mr. Johnny Cohen. We shall begin with the trophy presentation for the Super Bowl Kids of US Smash 2026. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Carlos Prados and Bear Hsu. Here to present the trophies to our Super Bowl Kids, please welcome Mr. Karl Indra. We shall proceed with the trophy presentation for the umpires of the men's doubles final. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the umpires, Plata Pavlicek from the United States of America and Abram Benatia from Tunisia. Here to present the trophies to our umpires, please welcome Ms. Tina Karata. Thank you, Ms. Karata, and thank you, umpires. Let's welcome the finalists for the Super Bowl Kids of the men's doubles final. From China, Lin Shidong and Huang Youjia. Here to present the trophies to our finalists, please welcome Ms. Zhou Dao. Let's take a group photo. Thank you, Ms. Zhou. Maverick Arena, here are your finalists of the men's doubles final. Congratulations, Lin Shidong and Huang Youjia. Thank you, finalists. Maverick Arena, it is now time for the champions of the men's doubles final. From China, Wei Ruibo and Yuan Lichun. Here to present the trophies to our champions, please welcome Mr. Johnny Cowan. Our champions, let's welcome back our finalists as well as Ms. Zhou for a group photo. Thank you, presenters. Ladies and gentlemen, these are your U.S. Match 2026 men's doubles final trophy winners. And thank you to our finalists. I present to you your champions of the U.S. Match 2026 men's doubles final. It's China, Wei Ruibo and Yuan Lichun. Now you know what time it is. It's selfie time. Maverick Arena, one more time. Give it up for your champions of the men's doubles final. Thank you and well done, champions. We have now come to the end of the men's doubles final trophy presentation. Thank you everyone for joining us here tonight.