体坛英语新闻：Chinese teams advance to semifinals in ITTF world team cup

DUBAI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese table tennis women defeated Romania and will encounter Singapore in the semi-finals of the international table tennis federation (ITTF) team World Cup here on Jan. 9, while China's men's team will meet Chinese Taipei after beating Brazil.

Followed by the hundreds of Chinese supporters, the Chinese women' s team comprising Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, and Chen Meng won against Romania with a clear 3-0 victory. Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen played a singles match each and the doubles together.

China, the Asian champion of 2013, will encounter Singapore in the semi-finals. The Singaporean ladies defeated Hong Kong 3-2 in a long and tough match.

DPR Korea women's team and Germany, the last year' s European champion delivered a neck-on-neck battle which the DPR Koreans won 3-1. "For Germany it is always difficult to win against DPR Korea and against Asian teams in general", player Petrissa Solja told Xinhua after the match.

"That we lost the doubles was regrettable in particular as it was a tough call," she added. DPR Korea will play Japan on Saturday.

In the men's quarter finals, China beat Brazil 3-0. China's coach Liu Guoliang told Xinhua that China had a good opportunity to win the ITTF team World Cup.

Austria was victorious over Germany with 3-0, too. Austria will play against Portugal, which defeated Japan 3-2.

The semi-finals will be held on Saturday, Jan. 10, the finals will be on Sunday Jan. 11. The winning teams, both men and women, will collect 50,000 dollars prize money, while the runner-up teams will take home 25,000 dollars.