The Chinese women' s team again proved unbeatable here on Saturday when the defending champions eased past their counterparts of DPR Korea 3-0 to reach semifinals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games table tennis team events.
Kong Linghui, head coach of the national side, dispatched the same starting lineup with that of their first round clash against the hosts Brazil, keeping in mind that former Olympic champion and Grand Slam winner Li Xiaoxia could open the game against singles semifinalist Kim Song-I.
Li' s actual opponent, however, turned out to be last year' s Asian championships women' s doubles winner Ri Mi Gyong, while Kim was arranged to start the second against world No. 1 Liu Shiwen before the two met each other again in the following doubles.
A little bit out of expectation but nothing scares the all-time dominating Chinese paddlers. Li breezily beat Ri 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 and Liu made short work of Kim 11-4, 11-5, 11-8 in the opening two singles.
And then Liu teamed up with newly crowned singles champion Ding Ning in the third set and wasted no time to defeat Kim and her partner Ri Myong-Sun 11-7, 11-3, 11-3.
"The DPR Korea' s start list was just a bit away from our prediction, which made no difference to me," said Li after advancing to the semfinals. "I think I can handle any unexpected situation since I' m totally confident on my teammates and myself."
A two-times Olympian and twice finalist in both London 2012 and Rio 2016 women' s singles table tennis, Li, 28, said she' s playing her last Olympic Games. "There' re two matches left in my Olympic campaign and I want to enjoy every minute on the court," she said.
The top seeded China will next take on the 2008 Olympic women' s team silver medalists Singapore, who overcame South Korea in full sets in another quarterfinal clash.
