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With comparatively easier opponents in their first Olympic matches, China's two women's doubles pairs are set to usher in a successful opening for their team in the table tennis tournament of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Guo Yue/Niu Jianfeng and Wang Nan/Zhang Yining will be the first Chinese paddlers to play at the Games when they meet Huang I-Hua/Lu Yun-Feng of Chinese Taipei and Nikoleta Stefanova/Tan Monfardini Wenling of Italy respectively in women's doubles fourth round scheduled for Monday (August 16) evening.

The Chinese Taipei and Italian pairs advanced into the last 16 after beating a Belarusian pair each, by 4-3 and 4-2 respectively. However, it would almost be a mission impossible for them to go a step further by beating the powerful Chinese.

Guo/Niu and Wang/Zhang are the top two seeds in the Olympic tournament and enjoyed a three-round bye according to the "best comes last" principle of the Olympic draw.

And the Chinese pairs had avoided an early meeting with their top challengers, South Korea's Lee Eun Sil/Seok Eun Mi and the DPR Korea's Kim Hyang Mi/Kim Hyon Hui, who had been drawn to the different half.

The Chinese girls, holding the top four positions in women's singles world rankings, are determined to seize the women's doubles gold, the first of the four table tennis golds the Athens Olympiad will offer.

"The first gold has a bearing on the morale of the whole team, "said Sydney Olympics double champion Wang Nan. "Therefore, the doubles gold is more important to me even than the one for singles."

In other third round matches of the day, Hong Kong of China, Russia, Singapore, New Zealand, Croatia and South Korea each had one winning pair who entered the last 16.

Editor: Lin Shujun