China's defending gold medalist Zhang Yining stormed into the final of the Olympic women's singles table tennis competition in Beijing on Friday, beating Singapore's Li Jia Wei.

Zhang won 9-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 and 11-5. The victory secured a singles gold for China as the world number one will play the winner of the other semifinal match, an all-Chinese affair between world champion Guo Yue and Grand Slam veteran Wang Nan.

"I think Li fought really hard today. She has participated in three Olympic Games, so she is actually more experienced than me in international competitions," said Zhang.

"But I knew I would win once I got over the first game," she said. "The final won't be easy because teammates know each other very well."

Li said that "I played very well today and it's an achievement for me to finish in the top four while the other three are all Chinese players."

Both Zhang and Li were born in Beijing in 1981. They attended the same school in the Chinese capital between 1986-96.

But Li went to Singapore in 1996 under Singapore Table Tennis Association's foreign recruitment scheme, and gained Singaporean citizenship in 1999.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)