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China Starts Assault at Men's Top Prize
China routed Russia 3-0 in its opening men's team match in the World Table Tennis Championships Monday in Osaka.
Olympic champion Kong Linghui beat Aleksei Smirnov 21-15, 21-14 and world number one Wang Liqin overcame Maksim Chmyrev 21-10, 21- 10.
Atlanta Olympic dual gold medalist and reigning world champion Liu Guoliang completed the Chinese tally with a convincing 21-13, 21-15 win over Evgeni Fadeev.
"Russia is not on the same par with the Chinese players," said Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua.
Defending champion Sweden, spearheaded by 1989-1997 world champion Jan-Ove Waldner, gave a 3-0 beating to Belarus, led by former world number one Vladmir Samsonov.
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