Japan kept its hope alive for a bronze in the Olympic women's team table tennis tournament here Saturday, after downing higher-ranked Hong Kong of China 3-2 in a bronze playoff that lasted three hours.

In Sunday's bronze medal contest, Japan will seek revenge against South Korea, whose medal pursuit also showed no signs of slowing with a 3-0 win over the United States earlier in the day. South Korea beat Japan 3-0 in the group stage.

Popular star Ai Fukuhara, ranked 12th in the world, was the biggest contributor to Japan's success over Hong Kong as she rallied two games down twice to win in singles and doubles matches.

The three Japanese hugged together, all bursting into tears, the moment they won.

"I cried because I never thought we would beat Hong Kong. I was so excited," Fukuhara said, grinning from ear to ear. "Our goal is to get a medal and we will keep on fighting tomorrow."

"Though 2-0 behind twice, I felt more relaxed at the start of the third games," she said. "It was not easy to qualify for the Olympics, so we must play cheerfully."

Tie Yana of Hong Kong got off to a flying start on Saturday, beating Haruna Fukuoka 11-2, 12-10, 12-10, while Lin Ling blew a 2-0 lead, losing to Fukuhara 9-11, 12-14, 11-5,11-8, 11-8.

Despite another 2-0 lead in the doubles, Lin and Lau Sui Fei suffered defeat against a fired-up Japanese pair of Fukuhara and Sayaka Hirano 7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8.

The match was tied at 2-2 with Lau overpowering Hukuoka 11-8, 11-2, 7-11, 12-10, but Hirano earned a 12-10, 11-6, 11-8 victory against higher-ranked Tie, who lost her nerve at the last minute.

Tie told reporters after the match that "I thought I had no advantage as soon as I found Hirano's serves too difficult to deal with."

"They have a unique style in serves, which were more powerful than expected," Tie's coach Li Huifen said in a hoarse voice and paused for a drink.

"Tie played under huge pressure because everybody needed the elusive bronze medal badly," she said. "It was hard for us to ease the pressure when playing in Beijing where so many spectators tried to cheer us on."

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2008)