Chinese ace paddlers Wang Nan and Zhang Yining outclassed their South Korean opponents in the women's doubles final at Friday afternoon to clinch the first gold for China in the table tennis tournament of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

The Chinese pair took a straight 4-0 victory 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 and 11-6.

"After my loss in the singles yesterday, I felt much regret. But thanks to the help of my coach and teammates, I calmed down and told myself that I must play well in today's doubles final," said Wang after the match.

The less-than-one-hour final seemed to have been played betweenplayers of different levels, though the South Korean pair had beaten Wang and Zhang, then both paired up with different partners,at the Busan Asian Games in 2002.

"But we still had some difficulty in the first game," said Wang,referring to the 8-8 draw in that game.

The South Koreans, who had pinned their hope for the first Olympic table tennis gold since Seoul 1988 on the doubles events, appeared too eager to win and made many unforced errors in both their defense and attack.

When Wang and Zhang were 10-6 ahead in the last game, Chinese team head coach Cai Zhenhua called a timeout, but the Chinese supporters in the Galatsi Olympic Hall, the tournament venue, already started to celebrate by singing and clapping their hands.

Wang, Sydney Olympics double champion in both women's singles and doubles and now world No.2 in singles, suffered a major upset to Singapore player Li Jia Wei Thursday evening in a singles quarterfinal match.

This has made it impossible for her to emulate her predecessor Deng Yaping, who has bagged four women's table tennis golds at twoconsecutive Olympic Games in Barcelona and Atlanta.

Her partner Zhang, now ranked world No.1 in singles, however, has entered the semifinals of the singles.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2004)