China edges Australia in team table tennis

Wang, ranked No 4, defeated William Henzell, ranked No 147, in four close games, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-9. Wang seemed unable to contain his opponent, sending returns out of bounds or missing shots.

The two-time Olympic medalist also struggled in his doubles match against Greece on Wednesday.

He acknowledges the pressure of meeting the immense expectations of the Chinese public, which will be satisfied only with gold medals.

8220;The Olympics isn8217;t any ordinary competition, there8217;s definitely more pressure,8221; said Wang, who tried to draw some encouragement from his rough outing.

Fans were asked before the competition to remain quiet and turn off cell phones to avoid distracting the players.

Spectators in the mostly full stadium rallied behind Wang, particularly when he trailed Henzell 7-1.

Shouts of 8220;Go Wang Liqin8221; reverberated through the 6,200-seat gymnasium, which was built especially for table tennis. When Wang went ahead 11-10 after a rally in which players took big swings at the ball, he let out a shout and threw up his fists, prompting fans to scream and wave Chinese flags.

In the women8217;s competition, Austria was no match for the Chinese, who won 3-0 in just 56 minutes. Singapore also advanced to the semis, with a 3-0 win over the Netherlands.

The US and Austria advanced to the bronze medal round.

The Chinese women will play Japan, South Korea or Hong Kong in the semifinals, all frequent opponents.

Meanwhile, four of the top men8217;s teams, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, found themselves in must-win situations. While there had been little doubt about the outcome of China8217;s contests, the crowd was spellbound by the tense face-offs involving the regional rivals.

South Korea8217;s Ryu Seung-min, the defending singles gold medalist, went point-for-point with world No 10 Chuan Chih-yuan during the last game of their singles match. The fans tuned out the Chinese women who were playing a couple tables over, and started chanting 8220;Go Taipei!8221; while madly waving the flag of mainland China.

At one point Ryu jumped straight into the air with both feet off the ground to return a shot. He dived to the floor in a failed effort to save the ball on the last play. Chuan won the game 19-17, and began jumping up and down, yelling and pumping his fists.

At the opposite end of the gym, Hong Kong and Japanese players leapt and swung their paddles wildly. Many spectators were so excited they couldn8217;t stay in their seats and shouts of 8220;Jia You!8221; Go! and 8220;Hao!8221; Yes! rained down on the rectangular playing area from all sides.

In the end, Japan beat Hong Kong 3-0 to advance to the semis. South Korea advanced with a 3-1 win over Taiwan.