China beat Slovakia in second stage of ITTF Mixed Team World Cup

Chinese paddlers clinched their first victory at the second stage of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Mixed Team World Cup in Chengdu on Wednesday, rallying past Slovakia 8-1.

Both Fan Zhendong and Wang Manyu took straight-set wins from their opponents, while the mixed duo of Lin Gaoyuan and Wang Yidi, who opened the match for China, had to come back from one set down to beat Jakub Zelinka and Tatiana Kukulkova 12-14, 11-6 and 11-7.

Wang Manyu, who suffered a surprising defeat to Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz two days ago, found form again beating Barbora Balazova 11-4, 11-2, 11-6. World No. 1 Fan downed Wang Yang 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.

In the second stage of the inaugural mixed team table tennis event, the eight teams advanced among a total of 18 will not face the ones that had previously met in the first stage, which was wrapped up on Tuesday, but their head-to-head results from before will be counted in the second stage. The team with the best overall result will win the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup title, as the event concluded on Sunday.

China earlier finished atop Group 1 past Sweden, China's Hong Kong, and Puerto Rico. The eight teams still in contention also include Sweden, Germany, Slovakia, Japan, France, South Korea and Chinese Taipei.

Also on Wednesday, Japan beat Chinese Taipei 8-0, with mixed doubles pair Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata opening the lead for Japan 11-6, 11-5, 11-5, and Miu Hirano and Ryoichi Yoshiyama rounding off the lop-sided victory in the singles matches.

Meanwhile, South Korea dispatched France 8-5, and Sweden outclassed Germany 8-4.

On Thursday, the hosts will meet Team Chinese Taipei who are missing big names such as Lin Yun-ju and Chuang Chih-yuan and later take on France whose Lebrun brothers have emerged as a promising force in recent years.