August 14, 2008	Thursday	Sha'aban 11, 1429

BEIJING, Aug 13: China’s quest for a gold sweep in their national sport of table tennis got off to a flying start on Wednesday when both the men and women won their first contests of the Olympics team event in straight matches.

The men overcame nerves brought on by a raucous home crowd to beat Greece 3-0, though the scoreline did not do justice to the Greeks. The women brushed aside first Croatia, then the Dominican Republic by the same score, barely putting a foot wrong.

“With that many people supporting us, it should help us play to our potential,” men’s world champion Wang Liqin said.

“Our preparation before the match includes dealing with heavy pressure and we just have to think about positive results.”

World No 55 Panagiotis Gionis and 120th-ranked Ntaniel Tsiokas gave Wang and his partner, world number one Wang Hao, a serious run in the doubles match before the Chinese showed their class, driving the Greeks far wide of the table in later rallies.

The one hiccup for China’s women came when world number five Wang Nan, the “big sister” of Chinese table tennis, dropped her first game to Croatia’s Andrea Bakula, ranked 131st in the world.

The near-capacity crowd urged Wang forward and the three-times Olympian recovered to take the next three games, but continued to struggle to find the range with her topspin.

“It’s a very normal thing. Athletes may run into some problems or difficulties in their first match. It’s what we expected,” women’s coach Shi Zhihao said.

In the women’s second contest of the day, against the Dominican Republic, the veteran Wang found her form, partnering with Zhang Yining to finish off their sorely outmatched opponents in a doubles clash that lasted only ten minutes.

“I’m getting used to the rhythm of play, it’s fine,” Wang said. “Match after match, I’m slowly getting used to it.”

The other Chinese women played to virtual perfection. The feisty Guo Yue, 20, made quick work of Wu Xue, the Dominican Republic’s top-ranked player at 49th in the world, pinning her far behind the table with her ferocious topspin.

World No 1 Zhang, who handily won three matches on the day, showed no trace of perspiration.

“I was sweating in there. Now that I’ve stepped out, I’m not,” she said.

The Chinese men and women are overwhelming favourites for the golds in team play and face lofty expectations to claim all the singles medals.—Reuters