Asian Games | China advances to table tennis teams' knockout stage with easy wins

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Both table tennis teams from China finished top of their groups to reach the next phase after winning twice at the 2026 Asian Games on Sunday.

In Group A, China's women's team, featuring Chen Yi, Kuai Man and Fan Shuhan, swept Nepal 3-0 in just 50 minutes in its opening match.

"I was excited, but also a little nervous because the opponent was relatively unfamiliar," Kuai said. "I was up against their No. 1 player, so I was still a little nervous when I stepped onto the court. But overall, I think I performed myself normally."

China ran into trouble in its afternoon match against Macao, China as newly crowned world No. 1 Wang Manyu suffered a 3-1 defeat to veteran Zhu Yuling in the opening match.

Making her return after recovering from injury, Sun Yingsha then swept Leong On Na 3-0, before Kuai Man beat Kuan Cheok 3-0 to put China ahead. Sun returned to the table for the fourth match and defeated Zhu 3-0, sealing a 3-1 victory for China.

"I had been out of competition for quite a while since my injury, but I was still highly focused today," said Sun. "Zhu and I are quite evenly matched. I focused on fighting for every point and tried to be more aggressive and proactive today."

In other matches, host Japan also advanced with two 3-0 wins in Group B, beating Mongolia and Uzbekistan. In Group E, Hong Kong, China defeated Lebanon 3-0 and Thailand 3-1 to move forward.

"The team matches can start quite early in the morning. We don't have a match tomorrow, so I want to take things slowly, get plenty of rest, eat properly and do a little light training," said Japan's Mima Ito.

In the men's event, China, represented by Lin Shidong, Wen Ruibo and Huang Youzheng, swept past Macao, China 3-0 in its opening match.

In the afternoon, Wang Chuqin joined Lin and Xiang Peng to beat Qatar 3-0 without dropping a game in two matches.

"I was more excited than nervous during the matches, but I still need to adapt better to the venue. There are many opponents here that I have never faced before, which gives the competition a sense of the unknown," said Lin.

Japan also started perfectly with two 3-0 wins, beating the Maldives and Uzbekistan.

Group-stage matches will continue on Monday, when the women's doubles event will kick off its opening round.