China to dominate Asian Games table tennis

GUANGZHOU - Defending men’s team champions China are expected to meet little challenge in the group stage while the women have a tougher draw in the table tennis event of the Asian Games.

The hosts are top-seeded and will play Qatar, North Korea and Laos in Group A in the men’s team event.

South Korea, runner-up in Doha 2006, is in Group B with Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia. Fourth seeded Chinese Taipei will lead Group D with Vietnam and India.

The draw for the event was held here Wednesday.

“No matter what the draw is. If you win, it is a good draw. And if you lose, that is a bad one,” said South Korea coach Kim Taek-Soo.

“I think we just have a nice draw. To every team, China is the best one so let’s care about the draw after the group stage.”

China, South Korea and Chinese Taipei are expected to top their groups while Hong Kong, China and Japan will fight for the top spot in Group C. The other two teams in Group C are Iran and Nepal.

In the women’s team competition, reigning World Champions Singapore will play India, Maldives and Laos.

China have a tougher group stage here. The defending champions will play Japan and Chinese Taipei and Tajikistan.

The draw of the singles event was also announced.

Men’s World No.1 Ma Long may meet Japanese paddler Kenta Matsudaira in the third round. Last year’s World Champion Wang Hao might clash with South Korean veteran Oh Sang-Eun in the quarter-finals.

Women’s World No.1 Guo Yan of China is not participating in the Games and Feng Tianwei of Singapore is seeded first in the singles draw.

Chinese paddler Li Xiaoxia is seeded fifth and is expected to meet Feng in the quarter-finals.