China, Japan, S. Korea remain undefeated at ITTF Mixed Team World Cup

Chinese paddlers clinched 8-1 wins against Chinese Taipei and France, respectively, on Thursday, extending their winning stretch since the inaugural International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Mixed Team World Cup started on Monday.  

Hosts China, together with Japan and South Korea, are the remaining three teams with a perfect winning record in Chengdu, as they race to a title finish counting the overall results among eight teams that advanced to the second stage.  

Chinese Taipei, playing without veterans such as Lin Yun-ju and Chuang Chih-yuan, managed to take the last game in the opening match against world champions duo Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha from China, as the latter beat Chinese Taipei's Yang Chia-An and Li Yu-Jhun 11-5, 11-7, 9-11. 

Tokyo Olympic gold medalists Chen Meng and Ma Long both stormed to a 8-1 finish taking 3 games each, before China's Fan Zhendong met with resistance from French prodigy Felix Lebrun in their second session of the day later in the evening.  

China had a comfortable start winning six-straight games by the mixed duo of Wang and Sun, as well as Wang Manyu in the women's singles contention against France's Prithika Pavade. 

Men's singles world No.1 Fan, however, was challenged by a 17-year-old, the younger of the Lebrun brothers, as the French squad hoped he would win the match to force a fourth face-off which would be the men's doubles, where the Lebrun brothers, already seen as title contenders for this title at next year's Paris Olympics, were expected to take on Chinese paddlers.  

Fan won the match 11-7, 9-11, 13-11 despite dropping a game, and reflected later that he was a bit hasty in the second game.  

With three rounds remaining before the tournament draws its curtains on Sunday, China currently top the standings with eight points and a win-loss record of 32-3 in games, followed by Japan and South Korea in second and third places, respectively. 

Also on Thursday, both Japan and South Korea maintained their winning forms against Sweden and Slovakia, respectively, although Japan survived a scare from Sweden in the day session when Kristian Karlsson and Anton Kallberg stunned Tomokazu Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami 11-9, 11-4, 12-10 in the men's doubles to minimize the gap to two games after Japan took a 7-2 lead, and needed women's duo Miwa Harimoto and Hina Hayata to win a game to wrap up the victory 8-5. They later beat Slovakia 8-2 in the evening.  

On the South Korean side, they downed Slovakia 8-0 in the day session, and went on to beat Sweden 8-2 later in the day. 

Friday's fixture features China against Germany, Japan against South Korea, France against Chinese Taipei, and Sweden against Slovakia.