The Olympic trio of Wang Hao, Ma Lin and Wang Liqin continued their wining streaks after beating a supercharged Australia 3-0 in day-two of the table tennis preliminaries at the Olympic Games Thursday.
The Chinese heavyweights were made to sweat in the three-set clash in which Wang Liqin and Ma Lin steadied themselves to overcome the charges of the Australian.
World number one Wang Hao started the match with an easy triumph over Kyle Davis 11-8,11-7, 11-4 .
But the winning tide was reserved when Wang Liqin trailed William Henzell by one game.
Bouyed by the fervent home crowd who cheered Wang on, Wang stepped up to take the next three games and won 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9.
The tiebreaker saw off a strong attempt from David Zalcberg/William Henzell to win, but their pains-taking efforts were shut off by Ma Lin/Wang Liqin 11-9, 12-10, 11-6.
"I was passive in the first two games and could not bring my abilities into full play. But I managed to control my nerves later," said Wang Liqin.
Wang, whose world ranking has falled to the 4th, added that he was unfamiliar with the play of Henzell, who served topspin very well.
"Ultimately, I pull myself together with cheers of the spectators and made adjustment which contributed to my comeback," said Wang, adding that every player is under immense pressure at the Olympic Games.
"In the group stage, we need to adapt ourselves to the atmosphere and the styles of opponents so as to fully exhibit our strength in play-offs," Wang said.
Davis said that to compete strong rivals such as China, the first several shots are of key importance because one will feel in a better position after scoring.
Chinese coach Liu Guoliang said that the battle against Austria was the most challenging one in the group stage as the team boasts 2003 world champion Werner Schlager, 47-ranked Robert Gardos and 37-ranked Chen Weixing.
Wang Hao survived a scare against Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece in the first round of the preliminaries Wednesay. The 18-ranked Kreanga played a close game against World Cup champion Wang and was edged out 3-1. The Chinese men finally crashed dogged Greek 3-0.
The table tennis tournament, held in the 8,000-seat stadium in Peking University, is scheduled to last 11 days starting from Aug. 13. The men's team event final will be held Monday following the women's final on Sunday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)