Defending men's champion out of TT singles

Beijing: South Korea's defending Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min was sensationally dumped from the table tennis tournament in his first match on Thursday, as China's giants strode towards the finals.

Hong Kong veteran Ko Lai-chak stunned the Athens gold medallist, racing to a three-game lead before holding off the South Korean's late charge to eventually win 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, 4-11 5-11, 12-10.

Ryu, who upset China in their most dominant sport four years ago in Athens to win gold, said he was kicking himself for getting off to such a slow start.

"I was too hard on myself towards the end of the match, as I was so keen to win. I feel very regretful about losing the first three games so easily," the world No. 8 said.

Ko, who won silver in Athens in the men's doubles but is ranked just 32 in the world in singles, said he had decided beforehand to attack aggressively from the start to try to cause a surprise.

"I won the first three games because I took more initiatives. But when I was close to victory, I actually started to become shaky and to lose confidence. I became more conservative because I was scared of losing the fourth game," the 32-year-old said.

"Then I thought if I keep going like this I'll lose. So again I became more decisive."

In contrast, China, brimming with confidence after winning the team event, stormed over their opponents and into the round of 16 as they gun for gold in the men's singles, the only title they failed to win in Athens.

China's world No.1 Wang Hao -- who lost the gold medal match in Athens to Ryu after a bout of nerves -- walked over Austria's Chen Weixing 4-0.

Three-time world champion and teammate Wang Liqin followed, thumping Poland's Lucjan Blaszczyk 4-0 in just 26 minutes.

Ma Lin, a four-time World Cup winner, faced a tougher opponent in Bojan Tokic, the Slovenian taking one game off the world No. 2, before he steadied and killed off the encounter 4-1.

World No. 5 Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus, one of the few Europeans considered capable of derailing the Chinese champions, also won through, defeating Germany's Christian Suss 4-0.

Austria's Werner Schlager, a former world champion, survived a marathon match against South Korea's Yoon Jae Young 4-3 to sneak into the next round.

Sweden's veteran Jorgen Persson, who has played in every Olympics since the sport was introduced at the 1988 Games, also advanced, defeating Hong Kong's Cheung Yuk 4-1 in the round of 32.