Pre-tournament favorites China will show their teeth in Beijing on? Wednesday when the Olympic table tennis competitions start with round robin group stage of team events.
The Chinese men's team, made up of current world No. 1 Wang Hao, four-time World Cup holder Ma Lin and triple world championships winner Wang Liqin, will meet Kalinikos Kreanga-led Greece in the sole round of Group A Wednesday afternoon.
And their counterparts of the women's, namingly the world No. 1-2 Zhang Yining and Guo Yue as well as Grand Slam winning veteran Wang Nan, will play Tamara Boros-led Croatia in the morning before facing Pan American champions Dominica, led by two former Chinese Wu Xue and Lian Qian, in the evening.
In other women's team matchups on Wednesday, Singapore's Li Jia Wei, Wang Yue Gu and Feng Tianwei will have an all-Chinese encounter with the United States women's team, including Gao Jun, Wang Chen and Huang Crystal Xi.
The Chinese Hong Kong women, fielding all former Chinese Tie Yana, Lin Ling and Lau Sui Fei, will play Poland in Group C, while South Korea, led by Athens Olympic bronze medalist Kim Kyung Ah, will meet Group D rivals Spain.
On men's part, highly-rated Germany will start campaign with Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Christian Suss against six-time Olympian Zoran Primorac's Croatia, while defending champion Ryu Seung Min's South Korea plays Sweden and Brazil with Chinese Hong Kong to meet Russia and Nigeria.
The men's team event will hold its final on Monday, after the women's team event produces the first Olympic table tennis gold medal on Sunday.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12,2008)