Guo Yue kissed her necklace after beating world No 1 Zhang Yining to win her first world title at the World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, on Saturday.

"This is a gift from my mom," she said. "It brings me a lot of luck, and helps me win so many matches."

However, she did not really need any luck to achieve her two gold medals and one silver at the Worlds. The 18-year-old from Liaoning was simply unstoppable, and her emergence¹ makes it more likely than ever that China will sweep the medals at next year's Olympics.

"I gave myself 99 out of 100 this time," Guo said. "This is a great showing for me in Zagreb, and I want it to be perfect at the Beijing Games next year."

Guo Yue serves to Li Xiaoxia during the women's singles final of the ITTF World Championships in Zagreb on Saturday. Reuters

From Deng Yaping in 1990's to Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, who have swept the Worlds and Olympics since 2003, China has always boasted players capable of dominating the world. But Guo's success in Zegrab still surprised many as no one predicted the country's next leader would emerge quite so quickly.

"This is what we expect," said women's head coach Shi Zhihao. "Wang Nan, who is 29, won the doubles title, 26-year-old Zhang is still formidable while the kids like Guo are already strong enough to win major titles, so I think we are building up a dynasty. It's not Zhang's or Guo's, it is the dynasty of China."

Blessed with flowing attacking strokes and an ice-cool mentality², Guo upset defending champion Zhang 4-0 in the semifinal, unsettling her from the start with stunning³ serves and piercing forehands that gave her opponent no chance to respond.

But Zhang said she is not ready to give up her No 1 position in the team.

"I couldn't feel that bit of excitement," said Zhang. "It was some mental reasons that led to my loss, I will find my way to overcome it."

Guo, who joined the national team in 2001 as the team's youngest ever player, has won three out of four International Table Tennis Federation⁴ (ITTF) tournaments this year and beat Zhang at the Kuwait Open. Zhang in contrast has only managed two semifinal appearances.

The lopsided 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4 win over the defending world and Olympic champion has got Guo closer to an Olympic singles berth⁵ in 2008, but it will not necessarily be at Zhang's expense.

Chinese coaches are mulling over the selection of the three singles players for the Beijing Games. Zhang, a Beijing native and winner of the Olympics, world championships, World Cup singles grand slam, will be a logical choice, while Wang Nan, also a grand slam winner, is being considered for one more Olympic chance.

As it stands, it appears that Guo and Li Xiaoxia will have to fight for the last Olympic singles ticket.

While rising star Guo dominated the women's events, in the men's singles final it was Chinese veteran Wang Liqin who claimed top honors.

The 28-year-old came from 1-3 down to beat compatriot Ma Lin in the final to fulfil his promise of defending his title.

It was a crushing performance by the experienced team as three made the finals, Wang himself defeating sole challenger South Korean Ryu Seung-min in the semis.

"Winning the final here is really encouraging for me, but I won't stop at where I am now," said Wang, who has won three World Championships titles. "I will make more breakthroughs technically⁶ to guarantee China's advantage at the Beijing Games."

To better prepare for one of the most important rehearsals⁷ for the Beijing Games, the men's and women's squads⁹ held 35-day training camps in Xiamen and Zhengding respectively.

Nine players from the men's squad⁸ and 10 from the women's, out of 12 each, have been selected from a series of trials, which were called the "Road to Zagreb" during the training camp.

According to the selection rules, all established players including world champions Wang Liqin and Zhang Yining had to fight against younger teammates for a world championships berth.

The all-conquering Chinese team has completed the title clean sweep three times in history.