By Sportswriter Zhou Xiaozheng

     ATHENS, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The all-mighty Chinese table tennis team again booked three berths in men's singles last 16 Tuesday in Athens as the Europeans vowed to stop them from taking away this most-coveted Olympic gold.

    Showing an unstoppable momentum, Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao, ranked 1st, 2nd and 4th in the world respectively, crushed their opponents in the third round matches, but the first ones forthe Chinese as they all enjoyed a bye in the previous rounds.

    Interestingly, all of their opponents were European veterans, including 33-year-old Dutch Trinko Keen, 35-year-old Croatian and five-time Olympian Zoran Primorac, and 35-year-old German Jorg Rosskopf. And the Chinese players won all the matches 4-1.

    "I was quite satisfied with the results of today's matches. We had a very good start," Chinese men's team coach Liu Guoliang said."Actually my players played better than I had expected."

    Liu said that Ma had faced the toughest opponent in this round but had managed to win the match easily. While Primorac claimed that he "saw much chance to win", Ma hardly gave him any chance for most of the time in Tuesday's match.

    Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao will take on South Korean chopper and world championships singles runner-up Joo Sae Hyuk, Dominica's Lin Ju and Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner respectivelyin the last 16 playoffs.

    However, the European paddlers who had survived the third round had vowed that they would by no means let the Chinese take away the singles gold easily.

    "Ma and I played many times before and it will definitely be a tough match for me as Ma is one of the top-seeded players in this tournament," said Waldner, also a five-time Olympian and singles gold winner in Barcelona 1992.

    "If I win, it will be a big surprise for me, and for him (Ma) too," he added. "Anyway, I have nothing to lose, so I can take risk in the match."

    Timo Boll, a star of hope for Germany and even the whole Europe,said that he was determined to stop the Chinese because he didn't want to see the Olympic tournament "become so boring".

    However, Boll, who beat French veteran Patrick Chila 4-2 Tuesday, will have to meet his European compatriot, Werner Schlager of Austria, first in the next round.

    No matter who turns out to be the winner, he will be a major headache for China as both of them have kept a good record againstthe Chinese players.

    Boll was a World Cup singles title winner while Schlager took the singles champion at the Paris world championships last year, after defeating top Chinese favorites like Wang Liqin and Kong Linghui.

    "I think we can stop the Chinese anyway. We still have first-class players like Schlager, Samsonov and Boll," said Dutch veteran Keen following his loss to Wang Liqin Tuesday.

    "The Chinese might be unbeatable in team competitions, but hereit's the Olympic singles, and one victory (for the Europeans) can stop them," he said.

    "It will happen, just not today, not me," said the Dutch, who lost his match despite a favorable one-game lead in the beginning.Enditem