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Chinese women paddlers defend Asiad team gold

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China showed its dominance in Asian table tennis as its women's team defended the Asian Games title, crushing Singapore 3-0 at the final encounter on Tuesday.

China lost its world title after losing to Singapore in the final of Moscow World Championships in May. That was Singapore's first and only time to beat powerhouse China.

At the Guangzhou Asiad, China lined up its best squad of world No.1 Guo Yan, 2007 World Championships runner-up Li Xiaoxia and world No.4 Guo Yue against Singapore led by Chinese coach Zhou Shusen.

Singapore had a narrow escape in the quarterfinals by edging out Japan 3-2 and marched confidently into the final, beating DPR Korea 3-0 in the semifinals.

Li Xiaoxia, world's No.8, beat 30-year-old Wang Yuegu 11-8, 15-13 and 11-9 to take a good start for China. Guo Yan then came up and handed Singaporean Feng Tianwei, world's No.3, a 3-0 defeat (11-8, 11-6, 11-9). Guo Yue continued China's winning momentum and sealed the victory after beating 29-year-old veteran Li Jiawei 3-0.

"This is not a revenge. Zhou Shusen and I are old friends," said Chinese head coach Shi Zhihao. "Though it's 3-0 victory, we all can see that the match is tough, not as easy as the scores indicates."

"After the loss in Moscow, the whole team is under huge pressure. All of us worked hard after the defeat and I'm excited to see my young players recover from that loss and take the Asiad champion."

Li Sun, who is the coach of Li Xiaoxia, thought the final was a new start for Li Xiaoxia.

"It's the first time for Li Xiaoxia to take part in important events like this," said Li Sun. "Wang Yuegu knows her very well and actually played very well. It is really difficult for Li Xiaoxia to win."

Wang Yuegu, Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei are all former Chinese players. Though leading by Chinese coach Zhou Shusen, the world champion Singapore is unable to stop China from taking its eighth Asiad women's team gold.

DPR Korea and South Korea, losing Monday's semifinals, took the bronze medals.