Table tennis: Gao Ning and Yang Zi make men's doubles semi-finals at Asian C'ships

Singapore paddlers Gao Ning and Yang Zi ensured their defence of the men's doubles crown at the Asian Table Tennis Championships stayed on course on Friday.

They beat Hong Kong's Cheung Yuk and Leung Chu Yan 3-2 (8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9) to make the semi-finals.

Earlier in the day, the duo had came back from two games down to defeat South Korea's Kim Dong Hyun and Seo Hyun Deok 3-2 (9-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5) to reach the last eight.

Gao and Yang are now guaranteed of at least a bronze, and will meet China's Zhou Yu and Yan An on Saturday.

Clarence Chew and Pang Xue Jie, however, succumbed to South Korea's Lee Sang Su and Jung Young Sik in their round-of-16 tie. They lost 1-3 (11-13, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11).

Singapore's women paddlers are out of the singles event, after both Yu Mengyu and Feng Tianwei lost their respective quarter-finals.

Yu lost 0-4 (3-11, 6-11, 8-11, 9-11) to China's world No. 5 Zhu Yuling, while Feng was defeated by Chen Meng (world No. 8), also from China, 1-4 (13-15, 6-11, 11-4, 6-11, 4-11).

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