The top women's seeds in the individual competitions all proceeded to the second stage in the Table Tennis events being staged at the Peking University Gymnasium.

Italy's Clara Podda progressed in Classes 1/2, as did Mateja Pintar of Slovakia, the defending champion, in Class 3.

Similarly, in Class 4 it was a successful day for Borislava Peric of Serbia, as it was for the Athens champion Monika Sikora-Weinmann of Germany; while in Class 5 it was a similar story. Top seed, Andrea Zimmerer, also from Germany, duly progressed as did Ren Guixiang of China, the winner in 2004.

In Classes 6/7, not held in Athens, the Netherlands's Kelly Van Zon remained unbeaten; while in Class 8 it was a trouble-free day for Thu Kamkasomphu of France. China's Zhang Xiaoling, the Classes 6-8 Athens gold medalist, also came through unscathed.

Success for China and more success in Class 9. With Lei Lina, justifying her top seeded position and colleague Liu Meili, intent on retaining her title.

In Class 10 the name to watch is Poland's Natalia Partyka, top seed and defending champion, she has been in fine form, winning all her matches without losing an individual game.

However, in the male events it is a different story.

In Men's Individual Classes 4-5, Norway's Tommy Urhaug has reached the semifinal stage; he is the top seed, while in Class 6 and Class 7 the respective top seeds remain in the form of Germany's Daniel Arnold and Jochen Wollmert.

However, in all other male events the number one seeds have waved farewell.

Joining Urhaug in the Class 4/5 semifinals are Ernst Bollden of Sweden, Christophe Durand of France and Jung Eun-chang of the Republic of Korea.

Also in Men's Individual Class 3 and Classes 9/10, the semifinalists are known.

In Class 3 the players to reach the penultimate stage are Feng Panfeng (China), Jean-Philippe Robin (France), Luiz Algacir Silva (Argentina) and Tomas Pinas (Spain); while in Classes 9/10 it is Fredrik Andersson (Sweden), Ma Lin (China), Ge Yang (China) and Gerben Last (Netherlands).

Meanwhile, in Men's Individual Class 2 the only name of note to remain is that of Kim Kyung-mook (ROK), the Athens bronze medalist; while in Men's Individual Class 8, none of the Athens medalists remain.

Mathieu Loicq (Belgium), Marc Ledoux (Belgium) and Richard Csejtey (Slovakia), the respective Athens gold, silver and bronze winners, all departed.

(BOCOG September 10, 2008)