China thrashed India 5-0 in the Sudirman Cup on Sunday, but the defending champions were given a tough workout by their unfancied opponents while Taiwan managed a surprise win against Malaysia. So distraught were the Chinese officials over their players' lacklustre performances in their opening Group A match that they snubbed the official press conference after their tie. The eight-time winners of the trophy, who are gunning for their fifth consecutive crown, took more than three hours to subdue their opponents to virtual guarantee themselves a place in the quarter-finals.

Results from the fourth day of the Table Tennis World Championships in Paris: Women's quarter-finals (x-denotes seeding): Ding Ning (CHN x1) bt Ri Myong Sun (PRK) 11-6, 9- -8, 11-4, 11-6 Liu Shiwen (CHN x2) bt Melek Hu (TUR) 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 Li Xiaoxia (CHN x3) bt Wu Yang (CHN x8) 14-12, 11-4, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7 Zhu Yuling (CHN x5) bt Feng Tianwei (SIN x4) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 Semi-finals: Li Xiaoxia (CHN x3) bt Ding Ning (CHNx1) 8-11, 11-1, 4-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-8

Reigning champion Zhang Jike of China eased through to the last 16 of the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris on Friday after seeing off compatriot Fan Zhendong. The fourth seed and Olympic title-holder cruised to an 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5 victory over world number 38 Fan to set up a fourth-round meeting with Robert Gardos of Austria. Meanwhile, top-ranked Xu Xin made short work of Portugal's Tiago Apolonia, sweeping aside his opponent 11-8, 11-0, 11-8, 11-7 to earn another shot at Portuguese opposition in the form of Marcos Freitas in the next round.

Reigning champion Ding Ning of China cruised into the quarter-finals of the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris on Friday with a whitewash of South Korea's Park Seonghye. Park had ruthlessly dispatched Japanese 10th seed Ai Fukuhara in the opening round on Wednesday, but she was no match for fourth-round opponent and world number one Ding as she was swept aside 11-8, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7. The top seed will meet Ri Myong Sun in the last eight on Saturday after the North Korean overpowered Liu Jia of Austria.