* TABLE TENNIS China's women table tennis champions crushed their hapless opponents yesterday, as the host nation opened its campaign for the Olympic singles title in scintillating style.

World number one and defending Olympic champion Zhang Yining barely broke into a sweat on her way to defeating unseeded Viktoria Pavlovich from Belarus 4-0, one of the games lasting just three minutes.

* ATHLETICS Nader Almassri slugged it out to finish his men's 5 000 metres heat at the Olympic Games, but his 13th and last position came as no surprise to the Palestinian.

The 28-year-old hails from Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade to all but limited humanitarian goods since Hamas seized control of the territory in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

* HOCKEY World number one the Netherlands qualified for the Olympic women's field hockey final with a 5-2 win over Argentina in the second semi-final yesterday.

In tomorrow's final, the Dutch clash with hosts China, who defeated reigning champions Germany 3-2 to book their maiden appearance in the title clash.

* ATHLETICS Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele yesterday cruised into the final of the men's Olympic 5 000 metres to keep his bid for an elusive long-distance running double on course.

Bekele finished third in his heat and advanced to Friday's final where he will seek to emulate the 5 000/10 000m double last achieved by compatriot Miruts Yifter in the 1980 Moscow Games.

Nampa-Reuters, AFP and AP

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