South Korea and Hong Kong of China reached the semifinals of the Olympic women's team table tennis competition on Thursday as they were set to make a raid on the Chinese juggernaut.

With a series of 3-0 wins, China and Singapore also advanced to the semifinals. But they will not meet each other until a final showdown is set up between the two.

South Korea's head coach Hyun Jung-hwa, the doubles gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Games, said "our ultimate objective is to win an Olympic gold though China will make it difficult to achieve."

"We have a 50 percent possibility of beating Singapore in the semifinals, and there will be a 30 percent possibility when it comes to a match against China," Hyun added.

South Korean women took down Japan 3-0 late Thursday, with Dang Ye-seo, ranked 26th, defeating Ai Fukuhara 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 in the first set.

It was the 12th-ranked Japanese star's second loss to a lower-ranked former Chinese in one day after Spain's Shen Yanfei, ranked 33rd, dragged her to the fifth game in the morning.

"My performance was not bad, but Dang played better," a depressed Fukuhara said after the match. "(Dang and Shen) are strong, and the world rankings can't tell everything."

Fukuhara, who is expected to help Japan end its Olympic table tennis medal drought, said she was so nervous that her body stiffened when playing Shen. She also admitted that she gave herself too much pressure.

Kim Kyung-ah had little difficulty in finishing off Sayaka Hirano 11-6, 17-15, 4-11, 11-8. The South Korean woman then paired with Park Mi-young to beat Haruna Fukuoka and Hirano 11-6, 6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9 in the doubles.

Exciting Japanese fans, shouting in chorus, failed to pull their stars through. "If I would be allowed to analyze our matches today, I think the opponents were calmer than us," Hirano said.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong of China fought off Germany in straight sets 3-0 though the dogged European powerhouse tried every means to narrow the gap.

Hong Kong's Tie Yana, ranked 10th, brushed aside Zhenqi Barthel 11-2, 13-11, 14-12, while Lin Ling beat Elke Schall 11-5, 10-12, 18-16, 11-8. The duo of Lin and Lau Sui Fei quickly followed, winning the doubles 11-3, 16-14, 11-7.

The victory put Hong Kong closer to reaching its goal of winning an Olympic medal in Beijing.

"We want to win a medal, and that's what we have never had at the Olympic Games," Hong Kong coach Li Huifen said. "We were the team runners-up twice at the world championships, both after losing to China."

Tie said that her team was cheered on by the spectators in the Peking University gymnasium and the Olympics were not different from a home match.

"The atmosphere here is good for us. Although our strength can't compare with China's national team, our popularity is not inferior to theirs," said Li.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)