Liu Shiwen set China on the winning path ©ITTF

The women's team event came to a conclusion at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Indonesia, with China earning a seventh consecutive gold at the expense of second seeds Japan, confirming Tokyo 2020 entry.

Liu Shiwen gave China the ideal start at the Among Rogo Stadium in Yogyakarta by beating Miu Hirano 13-11, 11-4, 11-3, maintaining her perfect record against the Japanese teenager with eight wins.

Chen Meng followed suit, overcoming Kasumi Ishikawa 11-9, 12-10, 11-1, avenging the defeat from two months earlier at the quarter-finals on the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour in Australia.

Japan's Hitomi Sato battled hard but could not avoid defeat by Sun Yingsha as China won a seventh consecutive women's team title at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Indonesia ©Getty Images
Japan's Hitomi Sato battled hard but could not avoid defeat by Sun Yingsha as China won a seventh consecutive women's team title at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Indonesia ©Getty Images

Sun Yingsha then resisted a brave effort from Hitomi Sato 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3 to bring matters to a conclusion.

Singapore, whose defeat of South Korea made them the surprise package in the morning's semi-finals, famously defeated China in the 2010 World Team Championships, but there was to be no repeat.

The favourites steamrollered through 3-0, emphasising their depth of talent by giving an outing to Wang Manyu and Rio 2016 champion Ding Ning.

On the other side of the draw, Japan advanced by a similar margin against Chinese Taipei.

The men's team semi-finals and final will take place tomorrow, with China meeting Japan and Chinese Taipei facing South Korea.