体坛英语新闻：Champion stunned but China unbeaten at Magdeburg World Cup

MAGDEBURG, Germany -- Reining World Champion Wang Liqin suffered defeat on the opening day of the Magdeburg Table Tennis World Team Cup on Friday, while the men's and women's teams of China were still unbeaten.

China's Zhang Yining serves to Japan's Fujinuma Ai during their table tennis team match in the 2nd round of Group A between the two countries for the Magdeburg Table Tennis World Team Cup in Magdeburg, Germany October 5, 2007. [Xinhua]

Wang was beaten in four games by Leung Chu Yan in the contest against Hong Kong.

This was the first losing game for the powerful Chinese team in the qualifying round of the tournament.

However, that was the only reverse in the fixture for China. Ma Lin beat Cheung Yuk, Wang Liqin overcame Li Ching later on whilst Wang Hao and Ma Lin combined to win the doubles against Cheung Yuk and Li Ching.

Chinese head coach Liu Guoliang attributed Wang's defeat to his failure to adapt to time difference.

"For the first thing, Wang had not yet adapted to the time difference after he arrived in Germany," Liu told Xinhua after the match.

"For the other, Wang Liqin was not aggressive, he was not in high morale in his fight," he added.

For the Chinese men's team as a whole, they finished the day in top place in Group A, having earlier beaten Russia. Hong Kong and France both had one win each.

Hong Kong defeated France in their opening duel. The latter beat Russia later.

Meanwhile, in Group B of the men's event, both Austria and South Korea finished the day with two wins each. Both beat Germany and the Czech Republic.

Due to the absence of Timo Boll, who caught a cold, the host team was eliminated during the qualifying round on Friday.

Germany lost to Austria 3-1 and South Korea 3-2.

On Saturday, South Korea and Austria will fight to decide their fixtures in the semi-finals.

In the women's event, both China and South Korea finished the day unbeaten.

In Group A, China fielding the team of Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia and Wang Nan on both occasions, overcame Hungary and Japan.

In Group B, South Korea won hard fought duels against Hong Kong and Austria.

In Group A, the second place was occupied by Hungary who ended the day with victory over Germany, who was third after beating Japan in their opening match.

Both Austria and Hong Kong beat luckless Belarus, and the duel between them would be really tough.

The Hong Kong-Belarus contest lasted fifteen minutes short of four hours with four of the five matches going the full five games distance.

"After losing to South Korea this morning, I decided to make a change in the team," said Hong Kong head coach Li Huifen

The change made by Li Huifen was replacing Lin Ling with Lau Sui Fei.

On Saturday morning, the tournament will continue its qualifying round, while on Saturday afternoon and evening, semi-finals are expected to stage.