DOHA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Asian Games table tennis
court saw all big names winning comfortably here on Monday at the knockout
stages of individual events.
Chinese pairs all made it through to the quarterfinals in men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, while Wang Hao and Ma Long came out the only duo who struggled, before
winning over their Chinese Taipei opponents.
Wang and Ma, who had never paired up before coming to
Doha for the Asiad, were pulled into full sets before rallying to earn a berth
in the men's doubles quarterfinals.
"We've not tuned up with each other, and it's hard
for us to face the true challengers here for the first time," said Wang Hao,who
earlier partnered with Ma in the morning session to beat the hosts Qatar's Ahmed
Ahmed and Mohammed Al Saadi 3-0.
In a match of Round of 16, Wang and Ma opened with
one set dow but they managed to hold their nerves to edge out Chang Yen Shu and
Wu Chih Chi of Chinese Taipei 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 10-12,11-7.
"The close-door training camp helped us a lot play as
a pair, but it felt quite different to play on court," said Wang, who was
crowned the men's doubles champion with Kong Linghui last year at the Shanghai
world championships.
Teenage paddler Ma Long took a overstrung match to
blame as he and his partner committed too many unforced errors.
"I could not hold my nerve in the beginning, and
wasted a lot chances in some key shots" he said.
"We should have made it easily if we were more
confident," sai the 18-year-old Ma.
The pair will face Japanese Seiya Kishikawa and Jun
Mizutani, who overcame Singapore's Gao Ning and Yang Zi 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6.
In the other Chinese match, Olympic gold medal
winning duo ChenQi and Ma Lin took just seven minutes to knock out Mohammed Al
Hashedi and Wael Al Qershi from Yemen, 11-5, 11-5, 11-3, setting up a
quarterfinal clash against Cheung Yuk and Leung Chu Yan from Hong Kong, China.
On the women's part, Chen Qing/Wang Nan and Guo
Yue/Li Xiaoxia appointed meetings respectively with Singapore's Li Jia Wei/Sun
Bei Bei and South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah/Park Mi Young.
Mixed doubles pairs of China, Ma Lin/Wang Nan and Ma
Long/Guo Yan both enjoyed 3-0 wins, against DPR Korea's Kim Song Chol/Ryom Won
Ok and Ri Chol Guk/Kim Mi Yong, while in the men's and women's singles, Ma Lin,
Wang Hao, Wang Nan and Guo Yue made it through easily.