Olympics: Singapore, Chinese women storm into table tennis team semis

Friday 15 August 2008

BEIJING - China's highly-fancied women stormed into the semi-finals of the Olympic team table tennis competition on Thursday with a hammering of Austria and were joined in the last four by Singapore.

The squad of Zhang Yining, Guo Yue and Wang Nan, who whitewashed Croatia and the Dominican Republic in their earlier group games, dished out a similar thrashing to the Austrians. It allowed China to win their group and progress to business end of the tournament.

World champion Guo beat 58th-ranked Li Qiangbing 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4 before veteran Wang crushed Veronika Heine 12-11, 11-6, 11-1.

Zhang, paired with Guo, sealed victory by demolishing Liu Jia and Li Qiangbing 11-3, 11-3, 11-7.

Singapore, led by Li Jiawei, crushed the Netherlands 3-0, with world number nine Feng Tianwei coming from 2-1 down to defeat Li Jiao 11-9, 10-12, 10-12, 11-5, 11-8 in the opening match.

Li then made light work of Elena Timina before teaming with Wang Yuegu in the doubles to ensure victory.

Hong Kong and Germany fight later Thursday for the top position in Group C, while South Korea and Japan face each other in Group D.

Chinese women's head coach Shi Zhihao said his team was tactically ready for whoever they face in the semis.

"We must be psychologically and tactically prepared for every opponent in
the semi-finals," he said.

"Hong Kong knows well about us, South Korea has two choppers and is always tenacious, and Japan has a distinctive style."

The women's team final is on Sunday with the men's final on Monday.