BREMEN, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Women table tennis players of China's Hong Kong beat Japan Saturday 3-2 to enter finals at the 48th World Team Table Tennis Championships in Bremen, Germany.

    Hong Kong will most probably face China in Sunday's finals.

    China, defending champions, will play against their semi-final rivals Belarus in the afternoon.

    Lin Ling, No.2 player in Hong Kong's team, lost the first game to Japan's top player Ai Fukuoka 1-3.

    Tie Yana, who finished third in 2000 at table tennis World Cup, launched a hard struggle against her rival Saki Kanazawa.

    Tie lost the first two sets 7-11 and 11-13, but she secured the third and fourth 13-11 and 11-6.

    In the fifth game, Tie experienced a frightful start by lagging1-3, but she clawed back and took the game and the whole match 11-6 against Kanazawa.

    Kanazawa, once a Chinese national team player, joined Japan's national team two years ago.

    Liu Xufei was beaten by Haruna Fukuoka 2-3, leaving Hong Kong one point behind Japan 1-2.

    In the fourth match, Tie beat Fukuhara 3-1.

    In the last rubber, Lin Ling easily overpowered Kanazawa 3-0, sending Hong Kong to finals.

    Hong Kong is the runner-up of 47th World Team Table Tennis Championships in Qatar's Doha, while Japan came third two years ago. Enditem