China stormed over their hapless opponents at the world team table tennis championships here on Wednesday as powerhouse Germany were upset by aggressive Japan. China's men took just under an hour to dispose of Austria, the Red Army using the encounter to hone their formidable skills ahead of the Olympics on home turf later this year.
Germany, third at the last worlds, were outgunned by Japan, whose young charges fought back from one match down to stun the Europeans 3-1. Teenage star Jun Mizutani said Japan had been relishing the chance to take on Germany, who are competing here without their champion, injured world number five Timo Boll.
"We have been training specifically to play Germany," said Mizutani who lost his first encounter before firing back to clinch the fourth for Japan. "I was nervous during my first game, I made mistakes and played badly but in the fourth game I had so many tactics going around my head," Mizutani, 18 said. German coach Richard Prause denied that Boll's absence caused their defeat, crediting Japan for being more aggressive than his team.
The win pushes Japan, 14th at the last championships, to the top of their group with one round of matches left to play before the finals kick off at the Guangzhou Gymnasium. South Korea, runnerup at the last worlds and confident of taking on mighty China, were tested in their group outing against Taiwan before prevailing 3-1.
Hong Kong outgunned Singapore 3-1, the victory shoehorning them to equal top of their group alongside the city-state. The victory was sweet for Hong Kong, still smarting over their loss to minnows Denmark the day before.
"Singapore is the strongest in our group and we beat them, yet we lose to Denmark, it's unbelievable," said Tang Peng, the hero for Hong Kong, who clinched a crucial two out of their three matches. "Today, I kept my head, my concentration was total, I was focused and just gave my best," he said.
China's women, boasting the world's top four players, cruised into the quarter-finals with an easy victory over Sweden, as they gun for their eighth straight world team title. Singapore and Hong Kong, considered the strongest chances of derailing the Chinese juggernaut, are also into the last eight after thumping the Ukraine and Thailand respectively 3-0 to finish top of their groups.
Japan, in contrast, found themselves in a ferocious battle for the second day running, this time against a never-say-die France, before emerging with a 3-1 victory to also qualify. In playoffs for the remaining quarter-final spots, the Netherlands won a nail-biting 3-2 encounter with South Korea that lasted more than two hours and left players on both sides exhausted.
Austria downed the USA 3-2 in another marathon match late Wednesday, while Romania edged out Germany 3-2, sparking celebrations on the Romanian bench. Hungary overcame Croatia also 3-2 to make up the final eight.
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