London 2012: Men Team Round 16 Results (Photos)

The Round 16 of the 2012 London Olympic Men Team event continued its competition today. Same as the other half of matches yesterday, no upset was recorded. However a few bumps were experienced by some of the strong players. 

As the top seed of the Men Team competition, China was expected to debut in the competition with a powerful score: a 3-0. The Olympic champion Zhang Jike gave the team with a powerful start. He swept Kirill Skachkov. The Olympic third person Ma Long also had a powerful debut. He played in the second match and posted a 3-0 against Alexander Shibaev. It was 2-0 for China. 

However in the Doubles match, Team China failed to carry out success. Ma Long partnered with Wang Hao in the third match against Alexey Smirnov and Kirill Skachkov. It was 3-2 in favor of the Russian duo (11-8, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6).      

Zhang Jike returned into the arena and crushed the Russian hope with a 3-0 against Alexey Smirnov. China finished 3-1 and will proceed into the quarterfinals. 

Singapore also had their debut today and they faced Team Australia. In the round, Gao Ning, Zhan Jian and Yang Zi were just too strong for Justin Han, William Henzel and Robert Frank. It was 3-0 for Singapore and will face Team China in the next round. 

The Japanese Team played against Canada in the round for the bottom half of the draw. Just like Singapore, Jun Mizutani, Koki Niwa and Seiya Kishikawa finished the match with a commendable 3-0 against Andre Ho, Eugene Wang and Pierre-Luc Hinse. This round was also the debut of their third person Koki Niwa. He crushed Eugene Wang. Japan will face Hong Kong in the next round. 

The last match was a Korean war: the second seed South Korea against North Korea. The challenger actually started strong with Kim Hyok Bong sweeping the South Korean veteran Oh Sang Eun (11-6, 11-8, 12-10). However, Joo Sae Hyuk came powerful against Jang Song Man in 3-0. It was 1-1.  

Oh Sang Eun came back into the arena and partnered with the 2004 Olympic champion turned third person, Ryu Seung Min for the Doubles. Together, they defeated Kim Song Nam and Jang Song Man in 3-1. Finally, Ryu Seung Min completed their 3-1 victory after overcoming Kim Hyok Bong in a full-stretch match. South Korea will face Portugal in the quarterfinal round. 

The 2012 London Olympics Men Team Quarterfinals will take place on August 5, 10:00 - 13:00 & 14:30 - 17:30 local time. 

Photo source: sports.sohu.com