China edged Japan 3-2 in the World Team Table Tennis Championships Men's semifinals in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on Saturday.

Fan Zhendong played first for China against Shunsuke Togami. Fan began the first game with an early lead of 5-1 and did not allow the opponent to pull within two points of deficit. It didn't take him long to win this game 11-5.

The second game was much closer as Togami seized the initial with sharp backhand attacks to lead 7-5. But Fan gained the momentum back with quick changing of line and tied the score 10-10. He then served to score first and began another counter-loop battle before Togami's last hit failed to touch the table.

Having won the second game 12-10, Fan continued his winning streak, claiming the third game 11-4 and placing China on a 1-0 lead.

The second match happened between Wang Chuqin and Tomokazu Harimoto. Wang managed to take the first game 11-8, but he couldn't cope with Harimoto's quick backhand attacks and lost the following three games 8-11, 6-11, 9-11. Japan tied the score 1-1 in general.

Ma Long played against Mizuki Oikawa in the third match. Ma still had the problem of taking too much time to find his footing. He lost the first game 8-11. But after warming up, he began to exploit his forceful forehand attacks to secure two fast wins, both 11-5. Oikawa couldn't defend himself at all. He trailed 0-7 in the fourth game and only scored two points before losing 2-11.

Ma's excellent comeback victory helped China lead again 2-1.

Fan met Harimoto in the fourth match. Harimoto did better than Togami in outwitting Fan in counter-loop battle and his hits were not easy to return even for Fan. Harimoto took the first game 11-7.

Fan began to pressure more with his forehand attacks in the second game. Harimoto made many mistakes in handling them and soon lost this game 6-11. Fan continued strong in the third game and completely pinned Harimoto down before taking it 11-3.

The fourth game sped up, which was Harimoto's favorite pace. Fan soon trailed 1-5. Though he managed to pull it within one point (10-9), he still lost this game. The fourth game turned white-out from the beginning and the score jumped from one draw to another until it reached 7-7. In the end, Harimoto beat Fan again to win this game 11-9, tying the score 2-2 for Japan.

Wang and Togami appeared in the final match of the two teams. Wang made some mistakes in returning and trailed 4-9 at most, but he managed to adjust his plays by adding more forehand hits and finally came back to win the first game 12-10.

Having entered a good form, Wang did much better in coping with trailing in the second game. It didn't take him long to turn a two-point deficit (2-4) into a draw of 6-6. Wang then continued to attack aggressively and took this game 11-7.

In the decisive third game, Wang didn't leave any chance for surprises. After the score reached 4-4, he didn't allow any point by Togami and scored seven points in a row to end the game and semifinals.

China will play against Germany in the final on Sunday.