BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Both China's men and women paddlers entered group A as top seeds in the team event of the Beijing Olympic table tennis tournament on Thursday.

    The host nation's star-studded men and women are the top seeds in the 16-team event, according to a special team rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation, or the sport's governing body.

    Germany, South Korea and Hong Kong of China followed in the men's team seedings, while Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea are the rest of the top four women's teams.

    Also in the men's group A are Austria, Greece and Australia, while group A on the women's side includes Austria, Croatia and Dominican Republic.

    On the men's side, Singapore was placed in group B with Germany. Chinese Taipei was drawn to group C with South Korea, and Japan was in group D with Hong Kong.

    Dutch women will play Singapore in group B, German women will launch attacks on Hong Kong in group C, while group D features a battle between Japan and South Korea.