Ma Long was the star once again with two singles victories ©Getty Images

China secured their third successive table tennis clean sweep of Olympic gold medals here tonight in the men's team event, but were made to work far harder than expected by a Japanese side led by an inspired Jun Mizutani.

In the end, though, sport's most dominant team triumphed again, with singles champion Ma Long securing two points in a 3-1 victory.

It continued their 100 per cent record in the team competition since it was added to the programme to replace the men's doubles at Beijing 2008.

It was also their 23rd gold medal out of the last 24 available in the sport.

The last non-Chinese winner came at Athens 2004 when South Korea's Ryu Seung Min claimed the men's singles title.

Ma, the world number one, who won singles gold here last week in four straight games, continued his dominant streak with an 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 win over world number 22, Koki Niwa.

The script was then ripped up, however, as singles bronze medallist and world number six Jun Mizutani went two games up over third ranked Xu Xin.

Xu fought back in a high quality battle between the world's two leading left-handed players, drawing level before gaining three match points in the fifth set.

Once, twice, three times Mizutani responded, however, taking the game to deuce and then converting a match point of his own for a thrilling 10-12, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 10-12 victory.

It was surely the highest quality and most exciting table tennis moment of these Olympics.

China were handed their toughest test of the tournament but still ran out comfortable winners ©Getty Images
China were handed their toughest test of the tournament but still ran out comfortable winners ©Getty Images

Crowd support was turning further in Japan's favour, and Niwa and Mahara Yoshimura promptly won the first set in the doubles against Xu and Zhang Jike.

The Chinese world champions responded brilliantly, raising their level and winning in four sets, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5.

It was left to Ma to finish the job, something he accomplished with ease in a 11-1, 11-4, 11-4 demolition job on Yoshimura.

"I feel very happy because the process didn't go so smoothly tonight, so when we finally won it was heavier - this team gold medal feels a lot heavier than the singles gold medal I won," Ma admitted.

"The scariest moment was the doubles, because Xu Xin had just lost a big second match, so there was only five minutes for him to rest and think about strategy. 

"He did very well to win it.

"This golden medal is not only achieved by these three players on the court, it is also due to all the supporters from China and the whole Chinese table tennis team, so we feel very proud."

Germany claimed the final place on the podium after recovering from 1-0 down to overcome South Korea, 3-1.