Hungarian women, the 2007 European champions, suffered their first defeat at the worlds table tennis championships on Tuesday.
The Hungarian trio of Petra Lovas, Georgina Pota and Li Bin lost to Singapore 3-0 in a lopsided battle that lasted no more than one hour.
Hungary had displayed a strong performance from the start of the world championships in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, with a series of dominant wins over Ukraine, Romania and Poland.
But the European team went to pieces when coming under attack from Singapore, which boasts sixth-ranked Wang Yue Gu and eighth-ranked Li Jia Wei.
In the first match, Li wasted little time in finishing off 75th-ranked Petra 11-7, 11-2, 11-3 as the Hungary's offense vanished and defense deteriorated.
Forty-sixth-ranked Pota, team title winner and doubles runner-up in the 2007 European championships, also went down fighting against a dogged Feng Tianwei before Wang sealed the encounter 3-0.
Analysts say the Singaporean women, which have also eased past Poland, Chinese Taipei and Romania, are likely to make it to the final against China at the Guangzhou championships if ace players Wang and Li continue to perform well.
Source: Xinhua
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