China's table tennis team faces tough draw

 LONDON, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China's table tennis team will face strong resistance in its gold quest in London as Wednesday's draws showed that Chinese paddlers may come up early against strong rivals.

China's top seeded player Zhang Jike will have to take Belarus' veteran player Vladimir Samsonov in the fourth round before meeting either Hong Kong's Jiang Tianyi or South Korea's Joo Saehyuk in the quarter-finals.

His likely opponent in semifinals is Japan's Jun Mizutani. Mizutani is No. 3 seed and, after winning Pro¹ Tour events this year in Kuwait and Japan, has risen to career high of No. 5 in the world rankings, the only non-Chinese among the top five. Young and aggressive, Mizutani is a strong contender for the gold medal.

In another half of the draw of men's singles, China's No. 2 seed, twice Olympic silver medallist Wang Hao, will have to take Germany's Timo Boll, in order to make into the finals. An Olympic veteran, Boll is seen as the biggest threat to China's dominance in the sport in London.

In the women's singles, likely opponents for China's top seed Ding Ning include Japan's star player Ai Fukuhara, Singpore's Feng Tianwei and South Korea's Kim Kyungah. The player most likely to challenge Ding is Kim, whose textbook defensive² skills and mental fortitude³ made her a serious contender for the Olympic gold.

Commenting on the draws, head coach of China's men's team Liu Guoliang said there are no such things as good or bad draws to the Chinese team. "We are not afraid of any team. As long as we play well, the draws won't have much impact on us."

Liu said after the draws, trainings will be more targeted and players will have their first sniff⁴ of competition.

He said he expects fierce battles for Chinese players in the Games as they were the targets of all teams. "We are now focusing on our first match. The first match is the most difficult. The most important thing to us is to keep our pace and get well-tuned for the competition."

In the Olympic Games, singles events will follow a knockout format⁵. Players ranked 1-16 will qualify directly to the third round, those ranked 17-32 to the second round, and those ranked 33 to the total number of participants will qualify to the first or preliminary rounds.

Sixteen teams will compete in the team events. In the men's team events, China has to beat Germany in order to enter the finals. Runner-up in the Beijing 2008, the German team has been the biggest rival of the Chinese men's team over the years.

In the women's side, battles may not be as fierce in the early rounds for China. Major opponent, Beijing Olympic silver medalist Singapore, successfully avoided China. It will not encounter China until finals. China will open its campaign against Spain and its likely semifinals opponent is South Korea.

The team competition will also be played in a knockout format. The 16 participating teams were drawn⁶ into round one and progress to the finals. Therefore, to have a good draw is relatively⁷ more important.

Yao Zhenxu, technical delegate of the International Table Tennis Federation⁸, said some teams have had an in-depth study of the competition format and successfully avoided meeting China in the early rounds.

Citing South Korea as an example, Yao said the country's men's team accumulated enough points to surpass Germany as No. 2 in world rankings by actively⁹ participating in Pro Tour events and thus successfully avoided China in semifinals.

China enters the table tennis competition in London as the defending champion in all four events. It won all eight possible medals in Beijing, sweeping¹⁰ the podium in men's and women's singles and winning both team events.

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

3 fortitude   

n.坚忍不拔；刚毅

参考例句：

• His dauntless fortitude makes him absolutely fearless.他不屈不挠的坚韧让他绝无恐惧。
• He bore the pain with great fortitude.他以极大的毅力忍受了痛苦。

4 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

5 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

9 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

10 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？