体坛英语新闻：Defending champion China takes good draw in Asian Games table tennis

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion China is expected to meet little challenge in group stage of men's table tennis competition while the women's side will have a more difficult path to qualify, according to the Asian Games draw held here on Wednesday.

The host will play Qatar, DPR Korea and Laos in men's Group A. South Korea, runner-up in Doha 2006, is in Group B with Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia.

Fourth seeded Chinese Taipei will lead Group D with Vietnam and India.

"No matter what the draw is. If you win, it's a good draw. And if you lose, that's a bad one," said South Korea coach Kim Taek-Soo. "I think we just have a nice draw. To every team, China is the best one so let's care about the draw after the group stage."

China, South Korea and Chinese Taipei won't have too much difficulties to top their groups while Hong Kong, China and Japan will fight for the top spot of Group C. The other two teams in Group C are Iran and Nepal.

Japan failed to make the men's team semifinals in Doha 2006. Led by rising star Jun Mizutani, who ranked 9th in the world, Japan will have a bitter match against world 5th-ranked Hong Kong.

Seventeen teams enter the women's team competition and China seems to have a tough group stage. The defending champion will play Japan and Chinese Taipei, as well as Tajikistan. Singapore will play India, Maldives and Laos.

In the men's singles event, world No. 1 Ma Long may meet Japanese paddler Kenta Matsudaira in the third round. Last year's world champion Wang Hao might clash with South Korean veteran Oh Sang-Eun in the quarterfinals.

With world No. 1 Guo Yan of China absent from the Asian Games, Feng Tianwei of Singapore was seeded first in the women's single draw. Host paddler Li Xiaoxia was seeded fifth and is expected to meet Feng in the quarterfinals.