Brazilian head coach said in Beijing Thursday they are in no dread of men's singles table tennis defending champion Ryu Seung-Min of South Korea after both teams were drawn into Group C.
"The draw is not bad because we have mental advantage over Ryu, who has lost to our player Thiago Monteiro after triumph in Athens," Brazilian head coach Wei Jianren said.
Wei added that seeded 13 in the men's team event, Brazil aims to reach top eight in the Olympics slated for Aug. 13-23 at the 8,000-seat stadium in Peking University.
The coach said, however, Monteiro was not in a good healthy condition as he has not fully recovered from a neck injury.
"To fulfill our target will not be easy, but we will try our best, " Wei said.
Apart from South Korea and Brazil, Chinese Taipei and Sweden are also in Group C.
China, as top seed in both events, was drawn with Austria, Greece and Australia in the men's event and bundled with Austria, Croatia and the Dominican Republic in the women's.
(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)