South Korea, the United States and Germany were all knocked out from the quarter-finals of the world table tennis team championships Wednesday evening.
South Korea's trio of Dang Ye Seo, Lee Eun Hee and Kwak Bang Bang, two of whom are former Chinese, failed to resist Li Jiao, Elena Timina and Li Jie.
Germany, comprised of Chinese-born Wu Jiaduo, former European leader Elke Wosik and Amelie Solja, succumbed to 2007 European champions Romania, and the US, led by former world doubles champions Gao Jun and Wang Chen, lost to an Austrian trio including Liu Jia, Li Qiangbing.
In the other evening elimination games, Krisztina Toth-led Hungary knocked out Croatia with a 3-2 victory.
Reigning champions China received a bye after making the second stage as the top finishers of the previous round robin stage in Group A and will meet Romania in the women's team quarter-finals on Thursday.
Hong Kong of China, Japan and Singapore also reached the last eight with leading results from the first stage, and face respectively the Austria, Hungary and the Netherlands.
On the men's part, China scored its fourth consecutive victory after thumping Austria, and Hong Kong of China bounced back to tie on points in Group D with a victory over leaders Singapore.