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China routed Russia 3-0 in its opening men's team match in the
World Table Tennis Championships Monday in Osaka.
Olympic champion Kong Linghui beat Aleksei Smirnov 21-15, 21-14
and world number one Wang Liqin overcame Maksim Chmyrev 21-10, 21-
10.
Atlanta Olympic dual gold medallist and reigning world champion
Liu Guoliang completed the Chinese tally with a convincing 21-13,
21-15 win over Evgeni Fadeev.
"Russia is not on the same par with the Chinese players,"
said Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua.
Defending champion Sweden, spearheaded by 1989-1997 world champion
Jan-Ove Waldner, gave a 3-0 beating to Belarus, led by former world
number one Vladmir Samsonov.
(People's Daily 04/23/2001)
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