Indian women begin well

OSAKA, APRIL 23. India blanked Malta 3-0 in their first league encounter in Group G of the third division of women's team event in the World table tennis championship here on Monday.

After Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak had won their matches convincingly, N.R. Indu capped India's victory with a 21- 0, 21-0 whitewash of Chen Shan of malta in the third singles.

Mouma defeated Nadia Bonett 21-5, 21-4 while National champion Poulomi beat Johanne Grech 21-16, 21-10 to give India a comfortable 2-0 lead. India plays Chile, the third team in the group on Tuesday.

Earlier, the venerable practice of ping pong diplomacy scored another success as North Korea's team received rapturous support. The North Korean women's side was cheered through every point of its 3-1 victory against Australia by a huge crowd of ethnic Koreans, around 300,000 of whom live in Osaka.

North and South Korea had announced last month they were entering a joint side into the two-week championships, but North Korea pulled out at the last moment, citing insufficient preparation time.

However thousands of Korean fans, originating from both sides of the divided peninsula, packed into the Osaka gymnasium. They waved special ``unified'' flags, showing the whole of Korea against a white background, to indicate they backed both countries.

North Korean women's team coach Ko Gon-Chik said later the resounding support had assisted his side through a difficult match. ``Of course, it was a help. We all share support, north and south together,'' he said.

However, he diplomatically refused to say whether the players were disappointed at the last-minute detente failure over the united team.

At the 1991 World championships the two Koreas did successfully field a joint team, with the woman's side winning the title, the only time the Chinese have been beaten in the event since 1975.

China's women players showed on Monday morning they are again the team to beat, breezing past Canada 3-0 in its first preliminary round tie.

Its side, featuring Sydney Olympic champion and current world singles title holder Wang Nan, Sydney silver medallist Li Ju, and Zhang yining - ranked one, two and three in the world respectively - are considered overwhelming favourites for the top prize again.

Players from 130 countries or territories are taking part in the World championships, the 46th such event. The team competitions dominate the first week, with the individual and doubles titles beginning on Sunday.

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Section  : Sport
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