GUANGZHOU (China), Feb 27: China’s men and women stormed over their hapless opponents Austria and Sweden respectively at the World Team Table Tennis Championships here on Wednesday as their drive for dominance showed no signs of slowing.

China’s men took just under an hour to dispose of European power Austria, the Red Army using the encounter to hone their formidable skills ahead of the Olympics on home turf later this year.

Austria, eighth at the last worlds, are second behind China in their group with one round of men’s matches left to play before the finals kick off at the Guangzhou Gymnasium.

In a battle of the Asian powers, Hong Kong outgunned Singapore 3-1, the victory shoehorning them to equal top of their group alongside the city-state.

The victory was sweet for Hong Kong who are still smarting over their loss to minnows Denmark the day before. China’s women, boasting the world’s top four players, cruised into the quarter-finals with an easy 3-0 victory over Sweden, as they gun for their eighth straight world team title.

Singapore and Hong Kong, considered the strongest chances of derailing the Chinese juggernaut, are also into the last eight after thumping the Ukraine and Thailand respectively 3-0 to finish top of their groups.

Japan, in contrast, found themselves in a ferocious battle for the second day running, this time against a never-say-die France, before emerging with a 3-1 victory to also qualify.

Eight more women’s teams, who finished second and third in their groups, were to face off later on Wednesday for the remaining four spots in the quarters.

Results:

Men:

Group A: China bt Austria 3-0; Italy bt Croatia 3-2; Romania bt Belgium 3-0.

Group D: Hong Kong bt Singapore 3-1; Spain bt Greece 3-1; Belarus bt Denmark 3-1.

Women:

Group A: China bt Sweden 3-0; US bt North Korea 3-2; Russia bt Croatia 3-0.

Group B: Singapore bt Ukraine 3-0; Hungary bt Taiwan 3-0; Romania bt Poland 3-1.

Group C: Hong Kong bt Thailand 3-0; Germany bt Spain 3-1; Austria bt Belarus 3-2.

Group D: Japan bt France 3-1; South Korea bt Czech Republic 3-0; The Netherlands bt Italy 3-1.—AFP