Chinese table tennis team sweeps the board

With 10 4-0s, Chinese lost only two sets in the matches.

Chinese Ma Lin, four-time World Cup winner and twice finalist in the world championships, lost one set in his men's singles victory over Wang Zeng Yi, as the penholding Pole unleashed¹ a string of killer² shots.

The other set lost by a Chinese team was in Yao Yan/Xu Xin's 3-1 win over India's Achanta/Poulomi Ghatak.

Ma Lin's teammate and number eight in the world ranking, Ma Long, who is being groomed³ for the Beijing Olympics, whitewashed⁴ Russian Kirill Skachkov 4-0 to reach the second round.

In the women's singles, China's world number one, Zhang Yining, routed Ng Sock Khim of Malaysia 4-0 and Hong Kong star Tie Yana, rated sixth, crushed Yao Xi Huang from the United States in straight sets.

China's top doubles players had an easy day too.

Chen Qi/Ma Lin, and Wang Hao/Wang Liqin romped⁵ into the men's doubles second round with straight-set triumphs, while Wang Nan/Zhang Yining, and Guo Yue/Li Xiaoxia kept a clean sheet in the women's doubles.

No. 1 seeded Guo Yue/Wang Liqin took their mixed doubles opener 4-0.

"We were prepared to have a difficult day since the first day of action usually isn't easy," said the Chinese coach Liu Guoliang. "It turned out not so difficult."

The surprise of the championship was Austria's 2003 world singles champion Werner Schlager, who suffered double blows as the aging star lost both his singles and doubles openers in the world table tennis championships on Tuesday