GUANGZHOU, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Former Chinese Dang Ye Seo fought hard to help South Korea take down France 3-0 in the women's section of the World Team Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.

    Despite a slow start, South Korea's Lee Eun Hee, ranked No. 31,shrugged off the threat from France's Carole Grundisch, winning the first match 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9.

    The second match between two former Chinese women turned out to be a thrilling seesaw battle. South Korea's Dang Ye Seo, doubles runner-up in the 2005 Chinese National Games, was made to sweat for her victory over a determined Xian Yi Fang who fought to the very end.

    With the game tied at 2-2, Dang kept cool to clinch the winning point for South Korea and finally beat Xian 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 11-5.

    Dang, formerly named Tang Na, was born in northeastern Chinese city of Changchun and was said to have gained South Korean citizenship last year.

    In the third match, Moon Hyun Jung, ranked 61, extinguished any faint hopes France had of winning, beating Aurore Dessaint 11-7, 11-9, 11-8.

    Also in Group D, the Japanese squad hardly broke sweat in demolishing much lower ranked challengers from Italy 3-0.