08/03/2012        2012 Olympic Games

Success for Li Qian in the opening contest against Feng Tianwei, the bronze medallist in the Women’s Singles event two days earlier, gave Poland the initial advantage over Singapore, as matters commenced in the Women’s Team event at the London 2012 Olympic Games on Friday 3rd August.

However, there was to be no sensation.

The second seeds recovered to book their place in the quarter-finals.

After Li Qian had demonstated her defensive skills to good effect to beat Feng Tianwei in the opening match (11-8, 13-15, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8); Singapore responded and they responded in a most empatic manner.

Wang Yuegu rectified matters by overcoming Natalia Partyka (11-6, 11-9, 11-6) to level matters.

The doubles win recorded by Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu over Katarzyna Grzybowska and Natalia Partyka (11-7, 11-6, 11-9) gave Singapore the advantage; matters concluding with Feng Tianwei beating Katarzyna Grzybowska (11-8, 11-6, 11-6) to secure Singapore a place in the quarter-finals.

Backspin Play
The win recorded by Li Qian over Feng Tianwei to some extent underlines extent to which the bronze medal gained by the Singaporean in the Women’s Singles event was a most noteworthy performance-

Li Qian, like Kim Kyungah who Feng Tianwei beat in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Singles event is a defender; Feng Tianwei has experienced problems in the past against those who extol backspin artistry.

Defenders
It was a splendid effort from Feng Tianwei to beat Kim Kyungah but undoubtedly, London is an Olympic farewell for Kim Kyungah.

Now 35 years old, we will not see her in Rio de Janeiro; was it a telling factor against Feng Tianwei that he was her swansong? Was there extra pressure? It was a somewhat nervous Kim Kyungah who was on show.

No Problems
However, in the opening round of the Women’s Team event, there were no such troubles for Kim Kyungah as she led the fourth seeds to victory over Brazil.

She beat Caroline Kumahara (11-2, 11-3, 11-6) to set Korea on the road to a three.nil victory.

Seok Ha Jung accounted for Gui Lin (11-8, 11-5, 11-8), with the doubles contest bringing matters to a conclusion. Kim Kyungah and Park Miyoung overcame Ligia Silva and Gui Lin in three straight games (11-5, 11-5, 11-5).

Injury
Success for Korea but at a cost; Park Miyoung is suffering from a back injury; her continuation in the event is in doubt.

Top Seeds Progress
Victory for the fourth seeds and also there were wins for the respective top two seeds, China and Japan.

China beat Spain, Japan ended the hopes of the United States of America; both succeeding without the loss of a single individual match.

Li Xiaoxia gave China the perfect start by beating Shen Yanfei (11-4, 11-7, 14-12), Guo overcame Sara Ramirez (11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8), with the doubles bringing matters to an end.

Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia defeated Galia Dvorak and Sara Ramirez in straight games (11-7, 11-5, 11-2).

Comfortable Win
A comprehensive win for China and it was the same for Japan against the United States.

Ai Fukuhara beat Ariel Hsing (11-4, 11-7, 11-7), Sayaka Hirano defeated Lily Zhang (11-9, 11-5, 11-3) with Kasumi Ishikawa teaming with Ai Fukuhara to win the doubles (11-7, 11-7, 11-1).

BBC Sport Presents the Action
To watch the action at the Olympic Games visit: BBC Sport Olympics. The Schedule and Results for all events appear; scroll down to table tennis, coverage of each day is available, click on a yellow box, then choose your match in “catch up” ans click play.