Japan shine in women's Team

Kasumi Ishikawa, Ai Fukuhara and Sayaka Hirano beat Germany 3-0.

Ishikawa put the disappointment of finishing fourth in the Singles behind her to edge past Wu Jiaduo 3-2 before Fukuhara eased to victory versus Irene Ivancan.

Fukuhara and Hirano then finished the job with a straight-games success against Wu and Kristin Silbereisen.

The Asian powerhouse, remarkably, has not yet had a competitor on the podium in the sport since it was first put on the Games schedule at Seoul 1988.

'The whole team are working hard to achieve a medal. We are here and need to get a medal,' said Ishikawa.

Any hopes of that medal being gold are still a long way off, given China's team of Ding Ning, Li Xiaoxia and Yue Guo are still in the competition.

They cruised to a 3-0 win over the Netherlands, dropping just one game over the course of the matches.

That set up a semi-final clash with Republic of Korea, who overcame Hong Kong in equally resounding fashion.

World Team champions Singapore, meanwhile, beat DPR Korea 3-0 and will subsequently face Japan in the last four.

The Singaporean team is led by Feng Tianwei, who claimed bronze in the Singles, with Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei completing the trio.