S. Korean men, Hong Kong women make Olympic table tennis team quarters with stumbles

TOKYO, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Both men's and women's fourth seeds, South Korea and Hong Kong, China, were stretched to play more than three games as the Olympic table tennis team events get under way here on Sunday.

The South Korean men's team, bronze medalists in the 2018 world championships in Halmstad, Sweden, kicked off their Olympic campaign with a 3-0 win in doubles as Lee Sang-su/Jeoung Young-sik beat Slovenia's Denim Kozul/Bojan Tokic 11-8, 11-8, 11-6.

South Korean No. 1 male paddler Jang Woo-jin, who suffered a round of 16 exit in singles after losing 4-3 to Brazil's Hugo Calderano, came back from one set down to win 3-2 over Darko Jorgic, who beat local favorite Tomokazu Harimoto to make the quarters.

Tokic then became the surprising winner over singles quarterfinalist Jeoung at 3-1, before Jang came up again to score one more game for South Korea 3-1 and wrapped up the match.

Hong Kong women's team, also a 2018 worlds third-placed finisher, booked a quarterfinal slot after rallying past Brazil 3-1, with their best player Doo Hoi Kem claimed two points in the second and fourth game, 3-0 over Bruna Takahashi and 3-1 over Jessica Yamada.

Soo Wai Yam/Lee Ho Ching opened the match with a 3-0 win over Yamada/Caroline Kumahara, but Lee lost 3-2 in the third game to Kumahara.

Chinese Taipei managed to complete the match against Croatia in three straight games in men's team event despite the heated rivalry in almost every single set.

Doubles pairs Chen Chien-An/Chuang Chih-Yuan opened it with a full five-set victory over Frane Tomislav Kojic/Andrej Gacina 3-2, followed by two singles 3-0 wins from this Olympics singles semifinalist Lin Yu-Ju beating Tomislav Pucar, and veteran Chuang over Gacina.

Also on Sunday morning, the Romanian women's team saw off their Egyptian counterparts in three straight games after Daniela Dodean/Elizabeta Samara eased past Yousra Helmy/Farah Abdelaziz 3-0, Bernadette Szocs overcame Dina Meshref 3-2 and Samara beat Abdelaziz 3-1.