Ping-Pong giant China got some acceptable results as the Olympic table tennis draw was conducted here Thursday evening.

The 150-minute draw, held at the table tennis venue -- Galatsi Olympic Hall, had put most Chinese singles players under some real tests on their roads to the Olympic titles while easing the pressure on the doubles pairs.

"I should say that the draw results aren't bad, though they are also not very good," commented Liu Guoliang, head coach of the Chinese men's team.

Lu Yuansheng, head coach of the women's team, made similar comments, adding that "no matter what draw we have, we must take every match seriously because every match is as important as the finals."

The tournament, which attracts 172 paddlers from 50 delegations,128 in singles and 66 in doubles, offers four gold medals in the men's and women's singles and doubles.

The draw process, a quite complicated one, picked up 16 individual and eight pairs in each event as the seeds, who will not have to play until the third round begins.

As none of the nine Chinese players is ranked below 10th in the world, they will all start their Olympic matches from the third round, or the battle for a place in the last 16 of the singles and the last 8 of the doubles.

On the men's singles side, the three Chinese players - Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao - respectively ranked 1st, 2nd and 4thin the world, are most likely to take on European veterans Trinko Keen of the Netherlands, Zoran Primorac of Croatia and Jorg Rosskopf of Germany in the first Olympic match they play.

"This will be a real test for our players. Not playing the first two rounds might save some energy for them, but at the same time will also cost them the chance to warm up and adjust their form," said coach Liu.

"Facing experienced Europeans who have already played one round, our players must show their best form quickly," he added.

If they can make it into round 4, the Chinese will face even tougher challenges from both Asian and European opponents.

Wang Liqin is likely to first meet South Korea's chopper-cum-attacker Joo Sae Hyuk, world runner-up, and then Greek Kalinikos Kreanga, 2003 World Cup silver medalist, on his way to the semi-finals.

China's rising star Wang Hao must have the power to conquer Belgian veteran Jean-Michel Saive, South Korea's Oh Sang Eun or Chinese Taipei's Chuan Chih-Yuan if he wants to meet the elder Wang in the semi-finals.

But in coach Liu's opinion, the hardest job might have fallen on Ma Lin's shoulders, as he is all alone in the other half of the draw.

In round 4, Ma is likely to meet Swedish legend Jan-Ove Waldner, and if he wants to advance further to the final, he will have to be capable of beating any of the following big names, from Europe's Werner Schlager, Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov to Asia's Ryu Seung Min and Chiang Peng-Lung.

On the women's singles side, Sydney Olympics dual champion WangNan will face some tough battles on her way to the semi-finals, with DPR Korean Kim Yun Mi, Chinese Hong Kong's Lin Ling, Singapore's Li Jia Wei and Japan's Umemura Aya being her main threats.

Singapore's Li was just one step away from beating Wang in Sydney, and Japan's Aya stunned China's world No. 1 Zhang Yining at the Doha world team championships earlier this year.

Comparatively, Zhang Yining and the other Chinese girl Niu Jianfeng will have less difficulty to sail into the last four.

However, Zhang, alone in the upper half of the draw, will need strong nerves to conquer all the Asian and European opponents standing in her way.

As the new ITTF rule mandates two doubles pairs from the same association must be drawn to the same half, the doubles draw was done in a much simpler and faster manner.

In both draws of the two doubles events, players from China and South Korea, long-time arch rivals in doubles, were drawn to the different half due to their leading positions on the seeding list.

For Chinese veteran Kong Linghui and his partner Wang Hao, the hard battle comes early as they might meet Swedish veterans Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgan Persson. In their latest encounter, Kong/Wang just won a narrow 4-3 victory.

But there is something for the Chinese to take comfort in the women's doubles draw, as players from DPR Korea and South Korea have been drawn to the same half and will have to fight for the only berth in the final.

As South Korea's Lee Eun Sil/Seok Eun Mi and DPR Korea's Kim Hyang Mi/Kim Hyon Hui both had the record of beating the Chinese pairs, the Chinese certainly would prefer to save the hardest battle for the last.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2004)