China's Wang Nan/Zhang Yining will meet Lee Eun Sil/Seok Eun Mi of South Korea in the final of women's doubles in the table tennis tournament of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

In the two semifinal matches played in the Galatsi Olympic Hall of Athens Thursday, Wang/Zhang beat their teammates Guo Yue/Niu Jianfeng 4-2 in a rather close match while the South Korean pair outclassed their chopper compatriots Kim Bok Rae/Kim Kyung Ah in four straight games.

The new drawing rules introduced by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) for this Olympic tournament stipulate that two pairs of players from the same association be drawn to the same half. As a result, the Chinese and the South Koreans, traditional powerhouses in doubles events, had turned both semifinal matches into their domestic affairs.

"Both pairs of the South Koreans are very strong, and it's gonna be a really tough match no matter which pair we meet in the final," said China's Zhang, ranked world No.1 in singles, while the second semifinal match was still in progress.

"But we still have the confidence to win," she added.

Both Wang and Zhang, then paired up with different teammates, had suffered a bitter defeat to South Koreans Lee Eun Sil/Seok Eun Mi at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, and the South Korean duo finally took away the doubles gold.

The South Koreans, however, spoke with lots of caution about their prospects in the final, scheduled for Friday afternoon.

"I don't know, maybe, just maybe," said Seok while asked whether she and her partner could repeat their victory in Busan Friday.

"No prediction now," she then added.

It is very important for the Chinese, who had come to Athens in pursuit of another clean sweep of all table tennis golds as they did at the previous two Games, to win the women's doubles, which offers the first gold of the tournament.

"For me the doubles gold is even more important than the singles one, as it's the first gold of the whole tournament and winning it will greatly boost the morale of my team," Wang told Xinhua during her pre-Games training back in China.

"I won't think of the singles gold before taking the doubles," echoed Zhang.

However, the women's doubles gold is also a most coveted one for the South Koreans, who had reaped two Olympic golds for women's doubles and men's singles in Seoul 1988 but had since been thwarted in all their Olympic gold quests.

Source: Xinhua