Asian Games: Hong Kong threaten China's paddlers at Asian Games

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SportsDOHA - Hong Kong proved China are not invincible at table tennis after all, dispensing with two of the Red Army's doubles combinations and one of their best singles paddlers at the Asian Games Wednesday.
Powerhouse China are guaranteed, however, gold in the coveted men's singles after second seed Wang Hao setup an all-China final against teammate Ma Lin.

Ma saw off Hong Kong's Li Ching 4-1 while Wang defeated Athens Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min 4-1 in an entertaining encounter with plenty of rallies.

Hong Kong's Tie Ya Na fought a ferocious battle in the women's semi against Wang Nan of China before emerging with a 4-3 victory, her first against the three-time world champion.

A surprised Tie, ranked three here, said she had decided before the match to take a risky stand against the world number three and play courageous shots.

\"I did feel very surprised. I've played Wang Nan many times and I have never won before. It's because I always lose that I dared to play many shots that I wouldn't normally play,\" the world number six said.

In the final Tie faces China's Guo Yue who saw off Singapore's Commonwealth Games gold medallist Li Jiawei 4-1 in the other semi.

Earlier Wednesday, Hong Kong's Ko Lai Chak and Li screamed and pumped their fists after downing mainland rivals and number two seeds Wang and Ma Long 4-2 in a tense semi-final doubles match.

The fifth seeds face a gold medal showdown with China's other doubles pair Ma Lin and Chen Qi who beat Taiwan's Chiang Peng Ling and Chuang Chih Yuan.

The doubles final later Wednesday is a repeat of the Athens Olympic gold medal match, but silver medallist Ko said revenge was not on his mind.

\"We are very happy with this result, very happy. We are not thinking about the Olympic final, we want to go out there and play our best game,\" Ko said.

On the women's side, second seeds Tie and Zhang Rui from Hong Kong downed China's Wang and inexperienced Chen Qing who left the arena in tears after their 4-2 defeat.

Wang, a four-time doubles world champion, said it would take time before she and Chen, ranked 40 in the world, were a winning combination.

\"It's the first time I play with Chen Qing. We don't know each other very well yet,\" said Wang, one of the world's most decorated table tennis players.

China included Chen in the squad at the expense of world champion Zhang Yining as part of a plan to blood younger players for the Beijing Olympics.

Tie said the win exceeded expectations and they were now steeling themselves for a gold medal match against another Chinese duo, Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia, also later Wednesday.

\"I imagined it to be a lot more difficult than it actually was. We have lost to Chinese pairs many times before,\" Tie said.

Number one seeds Guo and Li dispensed with Taiwan's Huang Yi Hua and Lu Yun Feng 4-2 in their semi-final match.

China arrived in Doha seeking to cement their reputation as the world's best after taking just three of seven golds on offer at the last Games.

They quickly won the team titles here, blanking Singapore in the women's final and South Korea in the men's.

South Korea stand in China's way in the mixed doubles after Lee Jung Woo and Lee Eun Hee downed Singapore's Yang Zi and Li Jiawei Wednesday.

The face in the final China's Ma and Wang who dispensed with South Korea's other pair Joo Sae Hyuk and Kim Kyung.

- AFP /ls