The table tennis tournament at the Beijing Paralympics finished group stages and quarterfinal matches here on Tuesday. 15 Chinese competitors secured their semifinal berths in 10 different classes.
Both men and women players in the Paralympic table tennis game are divided into 10 classes depending on their disabilities. The smaller the number is, the more severe their disabilities are. Classes 6 to 10 are for standing competitors while classes 1 to 5 are for players seated on wheelchairs.
In women's competition, 2-time Paralympics class 5 gold medalist Ren Guixiang and the Athens Paralympics team event gold winner Gu Gai defeated their last group opponents with clean 3-0s, and reached the semifinal with unbeaten records.
Zhou Ying, Li Qian and Liu Jing for women's class 4, class 3 and class 1-2, each won a semifinal position for China after Tuesday's competitions.
In men's 9-10 class, Chinese Ma Lin and Ge Yang both went into the semifinals after defeating their quarterfinal opponents Esa Miettinen from Finland and 2-time Paralympic champions Bourdonnaye by 3-0s, respectively.
In the same class, Athens Paralympics silver medalist Swedish Fredrik Andersson upset the then-gold-medalist Fraczyk Stanislaw in the 1/8 final and roared into the semifinal after taking over Spanish Jose Manuel Ruiz in a tight competition.
Chinese Li Manzhou from men's class 8 will compete with his teammate Chen Gang on Wednesday in the semifinals, while Ye Chaoqun will take on Mitchell Seidenfeld from the United States in men's class 7.