World No 1 Fan secures title-winning hat-trick at table tennis World Cup

At the award ceremony, the Chinese table tennis association President Liu Guoliang handed to Fan the gold medal and told him "to do the same next year", referring to the perspective of Fan winning the gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

"I'm very thankful to President Liu, my former head coach for life guidance as always," Fan said. "I thank him for having faith in me and that's my expectation too for next year."

"I know better, however, that I have to be more focused on what happens at the right moment and be more specific on the details of every match and training session ahead of the Olympic Games," he added.

Earlier on Sunday evening, the Chinese captain Ma Long lost to World Cup debutant Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei to finish fourth at the annual top-class tournament.