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Table tennis stars advance in Zagreb

Taiwan saw two of its top players reach the semi-finals at the World Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, yesterday, with Chiang Peng-lung and Chang Yen-shu winning their first four matches in the men's doubles divisions over the last two days.

Their first victory was an easy 4-1 win over Egyptians Ahmed Ali Saleh and El-Sayed Lashin with 12-10, 10-12, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7, after which they put away Cheng Yuk and Leung Chu-yan from Hong Kong in six sets, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7.

In the round of 16 they had little trouble with France's Patrick Chila and Christophe Legout, winning in five sets, 9-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 4-11. That earned them a spot in the quarter-finals held just an hour later, where they defeated Germans Timo Boll and Christian Suss 2-4.

However, they have their work cut out today, facing second-seeded Wang Hao and Wang Ligin of China in the semi-finals.

Chiang also achieved success in the men's singles, squeezing by Austria's Daniel Habesohn 4-3 and Hungary's Peter Fazekas 4-2. He was scheduled to play China's Chen Qi in the round of 32 last night.

Chuan Chih-yuan also made it to the round of 32 in the men's singles after defeating his Egyptian and Uruguayan opponents in the first two matches. He was scheduled to play Hungary's Janos Jakab last night.

Taiwan's women didn't fare as well in the singles, with Lu Yun-feng being defeated by Singapore's Wang Yue-gu, Huang I-hwa beaten by China's Guo Yan, and Pan Li-chun losing to Russia's Svetlana Ganina in the round of 64.

In the doubles, Huang and Lu breezed by Martina Safran and Biljana Todorovic of Slovenia in the first round, but fell to Wang Nan and Zhang Yining of China in the round of 32. Cheng I-ching and Lee I-chen beat their Ukranian opponents 4-3 in the first round, but were overmatched against Hungary's Georgina Pota and Krisztina Toth in the round of 32, losing 1-4.

Taiwan also had two mixed doubles pairs reach the round of 32, but both lost on Wednesday night. Chuan Chi-yuan and Huang I-hwa lost 1-4 to China's Lei Zhenhua and Ding Ning, while Chiang Peng-lung and Lu Yun-feng fell to Hong Kong's Ko Lai-chak and Tie Yana 0-4.
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