By Sportswriter Zhou Xiaozheng

    Waldner, left, reacts after he beat China's world No. 2 player Ma Lin 4-1 to book a berth in the singles quarterfinals, August 18, 2004. (Xinhua Photo/Xu Jiajun)

    ATHENS, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Swedish veteran paddler Jan-Ove Waldner accomplished a "mission impossible" in the Olympic table tennis tournament on Wednesday as he ousted three top-seeded Chinese players in both singles and doubles within one single day.

    "It was an unbelievable day, a fantastic day," said Waldner after he beat China's world No. 2 player Ma Lin 4-1 to book a berth in the singles quarterfinals Wednesday evening.

    "I had lost many tough matches to Ma. It has been many years since I beat him (last time)," he added.

    Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, Waldner and his partner Jorgen Persson also outclassed Chinese pair Kong Linghui/Wang Hao 4-1 for another quarterfinal berth in the doubles.

    The two victories for the Swede have dealt a heavy blow to the all-mighty and ambitious Chinese, who had come to Athens in pursuit of another clean sweep of all four Olympic golds for tabletennis, just as they did in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

    The European home crowd in the Galatsi Olympic Hall in northwest Athens, who had cheered the Swede on throughout the match, hailed their hero and rose from their seats to salute him as he walked out of the court.

    "It's unbelievable when you come to the hall. It's perfect to have such a supporting crowd, and I think they're coming back tomorrow, maybe also on Friday," said Waldner with a big smile.

    The first "grand slam" winner of singles titles at world championships, World Cup and the Olympic Games in the table tennis history, the 39-year-old Waldner has become a table tennis legend,especially for his long-time confrontation with the Chinese paddlers.

    "Waldner has beaten three generations of Chinese players," said Swedish team coach Peter Sternburg with a lot of pride. In China, where table tennis is called the "national sport", Waldner is almost a household name for his incredibly winning record against the Chinese players.

    Many Chinese paddlers, including Atlanta Olympics singles champion Liu Guoliang who is now coaching the Chinese men's team, became famous at home after they beat Waldner in major tournaments.However, they also suffered many bitter losses to the Swede.

    "They (the Chinese) nearly have everything, so if someone beat them once or twice, it's good for the sport," said Waldner after his Wednesday wins.

    "And you still have two (players) in the quarterfinals, Wang Liqin and Wang Hao, so it's only one who lost," he added, as if trying to console the Chinese fans who would definitely feel shocked at their players' losses.

    Asked about how he could manage to keep himself in such a good form for such a long time, both Waldner and his coach said that there was no secrets except hard training and concentration in thematches.

    "He is good at motivating himself and in the past month before the Olympic Games, he had practiced unbelievably hard, unbelievably good," said Peter.

    "One week before the Games I told him that I believe he will govery far, very far in the tournament,"said Peter.

    Waldner said that his participation in a European training campin Italy, which attracted all European ace players including reigning world champion Werner Schlager, Timo Boll of Germany and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarussia, helped him a lot in his preparations.

    "I had a perfect training camp in Italy. Good European players and I feel that I was in very very good shape. I could practice full (there)," said the Swede.

    This was already the fifth Olympic Games for Waldner, who started to play at the Games since Seoul 1988 and was crowned singles champion in Barcelona 1992.

    "I haven't played games like this for years. The last time I played like this in doubles was 7 or 8 years ago, for singles it was also 3 or 4 years," said Waldner.

    So does that mean he will take the singles gold once again after 12 years? The Swede denied, saying: "My goal here is just totake one medal in doubles or singles, but there is still a long way, a long long way."

    Waldner will take on Timo Boll, the European champion who beat Werner Schlager for a place in the last eight.

    The Swede gave a "phew!" when he learnt this news from some reporters. Asked to predict the match result, he said: "What can Isay? Like in the matches we played before, I think there is a little favor for Boll to win the match."

    "But I think it will be a very good match for the spectators," he added. Enditem