Li Xiaoxia wins table tennis gold medal

China's Li Xiaoxia performs at the women's singles table tennis tournament finals against China's Ding Ning at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 1, 2012. [Photo / Xinhua]???

LONDON -- China's Li Xiaoxia defeated top favorite, world number one Ding Ning, in the women's singles table tennis Olympic final, claiming the gold medal Wednesday afternoon.

Li, seeded No. 2, won the game 11-8, 14-12, 8-11, 11-6 and 11-4.

It was also the 21th Olympic gold medal that China won in table tennis since the game was introduced at the 1988 Seoul Games.

With a 4-0 win over Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa, Singapore's Feng Tianwei finished third, bringing home Singapore's first Olympic single medal in table tennis.