The third day's action at the 47th World Table Tennis
Championships in Doha, Qatar, saw a tense last minute scramble for
tickets for the knockout phase of the competition.
But China's women continued their serene journey to a sixth
consecutive title with another whitewash, the top seeds meting out
the same punishment to Singapore as they had done earlier in the
week to Taiwan, Russia and Germany.
China heads Group A with the South Korean team, which also
boasts an unbeaten record, lying in second place after dropping a
couple of games.
The top two clash in the final series of round robin matches
later Wednesday.
The Koreans looked in good shape against Taiwan, with Kim Kyung
Ah setting up their 3-1 win by defeating Lu Yun-Feng before
returning to seal victory with a straightforward win over Hung
I-Hua.
Hong Kong heads Group B after extending its win record to four
from four with a 3-0 defeat of Romania. The second seeds could be
joined in the knockout stage by Japan, who thumped Belarus 3-0 to
go second ahead of Romania and Hungary.
The winners of each group meet in the first knockout match, with
the winner securing a place in Saturday's final.
The loser of that game will play the winner of a head-to-head
between the group runners-up in a one-off semi-final for the other
final ticket.
Anyone believing that China takes its dominance for granted was
set right by Wang Nan.
After beating Singapore's Zhang Xue Ling in straight sets, the
world and Olympic titleholder said: "There's definitely no room for
complacency on the Chinese team: it's not allowed."
She added: "There's a different kind of pressure when you play
in an individual tournament. In a team event like these
championships the pressure is greater."
While China and the Koreans have their group wrapped up, Japan
will be desperately hoping to beat Hong Kong later Wednesday to
secure the all-important runners-up berth in Group B.
The men, who also due at the tables in this desert state on the
Gulf Wednesday, are closely shadowing the women's results: China
and South Korea are the favorites to finish first and second in
Group A.
But in Group B it is Germany, led by world number 10 Timo Boll,
who are the surprise leaders with six points on Taiwan and
Sweden.
(China Daily March 4, 2004)