China continues to dominate Asian table tennis championships

There were no major upsets in the men’s and women’s singles with all the favourites scoring straight victories, led by Atlanta Olympics dual gold medallist Liu Guoliang and world No 2 Li Ju.

Also joining Liu in the men’s third round were his compatriots Ma Lin, Yan Sen, Liu Guozheng and Wang Liqin, South Korea’s Kim Taek-Soo, Yoo Nam-Kyu, Park Sang-Joon and Oh Sang-Eun.

Hiroshi Shibutani and Koji Matshushita carry the best local hopes. Li spearheadsthe Chinese in the women’s event with Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Wong Hui and Sun Jin, while world team silver medallists from North Korea, Kim Hyon-Hui and Wi Bok-Sun as well as Kim Hyang-Mi, also joined them.

Other prominent players included Atlanta Olympics silver medallist Chen Jing of Taiwan, who also won the Seoul Olympics gold for China, and Japan’s Chire Koyama, better known as former Chinese world champion He Zhili, and Chan Tan-Lui of Hong Kong.