Asian powerhouse South Korea entered the last eight on the heals of China, beating Chinese Taipei at the world table tennis championships here Wednesday.
South Korea, which already scored a string of dominant wins over Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden, dispatched its top player Ryu Seung Min to confront 14-ranked Chuan Chi-Yuan in the opening game.
The encounter proved to be nail-biting with Chuan overpowering Olympic champion Ryu 3-2 in a long march.
Joo Se Hyuk, who made his name as a top-class defensive chopperin 2003, stretched full against 36-ranked Chiang Peng-Lung before emerging with a 3-1 victory. Joo's compatriot LEE Jung Woo enlarged South Korea's lead to 2-1 after beating Chiang Hung-Chieh3-0.
Back on court, Ryu pulled himself together and completed a 3-1 win for his team after finishing off Chiang 3-1.
"I did not warm up fully, which led to my defeat in the opening game," said Ryu after the match, adding that he was satisfied withthe performance of himself as well as the South Korean team.
Meanwhile, Japan sent a strong lineup of Jun Mizutani, Kan Yo and Kaii Yoshida against Germany's Bastian Steger, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Christian Suss.
With the absence of its top star Timo Boll, the German regiment seemed a little different and succumbed to Japan 1-3 in a two-hour enthralling encounter.
"The German team is pretty well even without Boll. A team wins or not depends on whether it could find the right key to play," said Richard Prause, head coach of the German team.
He praised the Japanese team for their aggressive performance and hoped his team could recover soon.
"I respect them and the Japanese deserve the win," said Prause.
Earlier on Wednesday, China cruised over Austria in one hour to become the first team to reach the last eight, while Hong Kong of China trashed its Asian rival Singapore to set up a meeting with Belarus in Group D.
Liu Guoliang, head coach of the Chinese men's squad, said early Wednesday that the team would keep a close eye on the performance of South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
In other matches of Group C, France lost to Slovakia 2-3 and Russia eased past Serbia 3-1.
Source:Xinhua
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