The 33-year-old veteran is the only player in history to have won Olympic gold in all three events: doubles at Athens 2004 and singles and team at Beijing 2008, but he will not be adding a world title to his impressive honours list.

Matsudaira (pictured top) spoke of his pride in beating the Chinese great, and of winning the tie for his country, who suffered a difficult opening day at the Championships.

"I'm so excited to have beaten Ma Lin," said the 22-year-old.

"Yesterday I was very sad that Jun Mitzutani lost, so it motivated me to win today, I wanted to win for Japan.

"Today was also revenge, for my defeat at the World Championships in Yokohama in 2009 [where Matsudaira lost to Ma in the fourth round].

But another Japanese player was surprisingly beaten following the early exits of Mitzutani and Ai Fukuhara, who slumped to defeat in the first round.

Kasumi Ishikawa was the latest Japanese casualty in Paris

World number eight Kasumi Ishikawa was comprehensively defeated by a score of 4-0 against Myong Sun Ri of North Korea, meaning that there will be no Japanese players in the final 32 of the women's singles tournament.