THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — The top-ranked Chinese men defeated Australia 3-0 in the team table tennis competition Thursday, while Canada dropped a 3-0 decision to Germany.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov beat Ottawa’s Peng Zhang 11-7, 5-11, 11-2, 11-6, Timo Boll defeated Ottawa’s Pradeeban Peter-Paul 6-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-2, 11-7 and Christian Suss and Boll topped Qiang Shen and Peter-Paul 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5.
The Canadians played Croatia later Thursday.
The Chinese women sealed a spot in the semifinal with an easy win over their highest-ranked opponent so far, No. 8 Austria. They will play Japan, South Korea or Hong Kong, all frequent opponents.
"Any team that can win their groups at the Olympics are quite strong. These teams are basically China’s primary opponents," said coach Shi Zhihao. "Maybe overall China is stronger but on an individual basis, they’ve beaten us before in singles matches or other contests."
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 medallist had also struggled during 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.
"The Olympics isn’t any ordinary competition — there’s definitely more pressure," said Wang, who tried to draw some encouragement from his rough outing.
"I didn’t play to my full potential, but it was good training for me psychologically," he said. "When I was behind 1-0, and even when I was trailing in the second game, to be able to come back from that, psychologically, that was good for me. I think it’ll be helpful for the upcoming games."
Fans were asked before the competition to remain quiet and turn off cell phones to avoid distracting the players. Still, spectators in the mostly full stadium rallied behind Wang, particularly when he trailed Henzell 7-1.
Shouts of "Go Wang Liqin" 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 of all sizes.
In the women’s competition, Austria was no match for the Chinese, who finished with a 3-0 result in just 56 minutes. Singapore also advanced to the semis, with a 3-0 win over the Netherlands.
The U.S. and Austria advanced to the bronze medal round.
