China Closer to Golden Sweep at Table Tennis World Championships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, May 24, 2003

China Closer to Golden Sweep at Table Tennis World Championships

China is making another step to sweep all the five gold medals on offer at the world table tennis championships in Paris as the traditional powerhouse continued to be unbeatable in Friday's matches.

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China is making another step to sweep all the five gold medals on offer at the world table tennis championships in Paris as the traditional powerhouse continued to be unbeatable in Friday's matches.

After Chinese pair Ma Lin and Wang Nan won the mixed doubles event on Friday, China secured a second gold as the men's doubles final became an all-Chinese affair.

Kong Linhui and Wang Hao beat Oh Sang Eun and Kim Taek Soo 4-1 to meet in Saturday's final their teammates Wang Liqin and Yan Sen,who scored a 4-1 victory over another Chinese pair Ma Lin and Qin Zhijian.

China would have swept all the four places in the semi-finals of the women's doubles if South Korean pair Suk Eun Mi and Lee EunSil had not beaten Singaporean pair Li Jiawei and Jing Jun Hong onThursday.

World and Olympic champion Wang Nan is favored to beat Tamara Boros of Croatia in the women's singles semi-finals, while the other match will be held between two Chinese players Zhang Yining and Li Ju.

The men's singles quarter-finals will feature four Chinese players, including world number two Ma Lin, world number three Wang Liqin and Olympic champion Kong Linghui.

China's chances of winning the men's singles gold has increased after a string of big names had crashed out of the world championships.

After world number one Timo Boll of Germany was upset by China's rising star Qiu Keyi on Tuesday and fifth-ranked Chuan Chih-Yuanof Chinese Taipei and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus also went out on Friday.

Chuang bowed to South Korean Joo Se Hyuk 4-1 while sixth-ranked Samsonov lost 4-3 to Kalinikos Kreanga of Germany, ranked ninth inthe world.

Austrian Schlager Werner, ranked fourth in the world, remained the highest-ranked non-Chinese player in the quarter-finals but Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua did not think he would block China's gold bid.

"Basically he and Wang Liqin are on the same level, but we have found out the ways of beating Schlager," said Cai. "I think Wang has more chances."

What Cai felt uncertain was the match between Ma Lin and Hoo SeHyuk as he said that Chinese players have not been very comfortable with the defensive-minded choppers.

"Ma has failed to get edge over choppers, so he needs to be well prepared for the match against Hoo," he said.

"We used to have a lot of ways to handle the choppers, but now we are more comfortable with the attacking game," he said.

His remarks were underscored by Wang Hao's loss to former Chinese player Chen Weixin, who represents Austria at the championships.

"Our young player has not attached enough importance to handling the choppers, so that they fell short of enough ways to beat them," said Cai.

"We need to improve in this way in the future, "he added.

In the event's other quarter-finals fixtures, Chen Weixin will meet Kreanga and Kong Linghui will meet Qiu Yike.

"Kong has 70 percent chances to win the match, as he is more experienced. But I am younger, I will fight to my best," said Qiu.

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