BREMEN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese man paddler Ma Lin lost first round 2-3 to Germany's Timo Boll Sunday in semi-finals as host Germany led 1-0 on total at the 48th World Team Table Tennis Championships.

    This was the first loss the Chinese men recorded at this table tennis championships.

    Overcoming thundrous applauses and cries of the home fans, world No.4 Ma breezingly took the first game 11-6 over Boll, Germany's table tennis star, who had received training from a Chinese coach since quite young.

    Ma, who stuttered when facing France's Patrick Chila in Saturday's quarter-finals despite a 3-2 win, appeared to be in very good form and led the second game all the way to 11-7.

    But the third game, which was tuned to Boll's rhythm, saw the German took an overwhelming 11-3 lead, drawing noisy cheers from German audience.

    In the fourth game, Ma managed to boost his score from 2-6 to 5-7 but lost three points in a row, distancing himself from Boll at 6-10, and lost the game 7-11.

    In the decider, Ma seemed to find no way out keeping high-spirited Boll's thrusting attack at bay and lost 5-11. Enditem