Asian powerhouse South Korea also entered the last eight on the heals of China after beating Chinese Taipei 3-1. They are now leading Group B on eight points after scoring a string of dominant wins over Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden.

In the day's other plays, Belarus beat Denmark 3-1, Spain dumped Greece in four games, Italy overcame Croatia 3-2 and Belgium succumbed to Romania 3-0.

The defending champions hardly broke a sweat as Wang Liqin, Wang Hao and Ma Long trampled the Austrian trio of Bernhard Presslmayer, Robert Gardos and Daniel Habesohn without losing a game in the lopsided one-hour match after beating Belgium, Romania and Croatia on the previous days.

Triple world champion Wang Liqin, defeated by 74-ranked Romanian Andrei Filimon on Monday, said he was still not in best form despite the continuous victories, admitting that the high expectation of home audience and media put himself under enormous pressure.

The match between Hong Kong and Singapore saw a clash of all-Chinese players with both regiments forming strong lineups.

Tang Peng opened the match by beating former Chinese player Yang Zi 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7 and ended it with a 11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8 victory over top Singapore paddler Gao Ning, also from Tang.

Veteran Li Jing, who lost two points in Hong Kong's 1-3 defeat to Denmark on Tuesday, failed to pull himself together in the following match and lost 8-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 to 10th-ranked Gao Ning and lost the only point of Hong Kong.

Li claimed Hong Kong's first Olympic table tennis medal in Athens partnered with Ko Lai Chak, after losing to Chinese duo Ma Lin/Chen Qi in the men's doubles final.

Twenty-four teams are vying in four groups in championships division in the week-long tournament. The last round group matches on Thursday will see top finishers in each group earning the berths for the quarter-finals and the second and third ranked squads striving for the remaining spots in the last eight later in the evening.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2008)