Venus Williams’ bid for a second successive Olympic doubles gold ended yesterday when she and stand-in US partner Chanda Rubin lost 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to Chinese eighth seeds Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian in the first round. Venus was without her usual partner, younger sister Serena who pulled out of the Games due to injury, and she and Rubin could not match the teamwork of the Chinese pair.

Men’s top seed Roger Federer dropped a set but managed to advance to the second round of the Olympic tournament in a windswept day on the courts. The world No. 1 from Switzerland overcame Nikolai Davidenko of Russia 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and will now face Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic who put out the German Florian Mayer.

Third seed Carlos Moya of Spain also moved through to the second round with a tight 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 victory over Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist, but a number of other seeded players were blown off course.

Seventh seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany was one victim of the conditions as he bowed out to Igor Andreev of Russia 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Teammate Mayer went down 6-3, 7-5 to Berdych. From the four German men at the Olympics, only Nicolas Kiefer and Thomas Haas have made it to the second round, with Haas now set to face the No. 2 seed Andy Roddick of the United States. No. 11 seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand meanwhile could not get past Joachim Johansson of Sweden, losing 6-2, 6-3 in just 49 minutes.

Three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil was another casualty, going out 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to 10th seed Nicolas Massu of Chile. Among other results, Olivier Rochus of Belgian ran out a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 winner against Mark Philippoussis of Australia.

In the women’s singles, Sydney 2000 silver medallist Elena Dementieva, the No. 4 seed from Russia, crashed out to Australia’s Alicia Molik, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. But second seed Amelie Mauresmo of France enjoyed a 6-1, 6-4 win over Conchita Martinez of Spain and Anastasia Myskina of Russia, seeded three, thrashed Magui Serna of Spain 6-0, 6-1.

Europe’s Stars Primed to Knock Off China

Europe’s stars are primed to try and end China’s Olympic table tennis dominance after an intensive pre-game training camp in Italy, Swedish veterans Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson said yesterday.

Waldner, the 38-year-old 1992 Olympic singles champion and 2000 silver medalist, said he had lost three to four kilograms during the camp and emerged from it in 10-20 percent better shape. As well as the Swedes, Germany’s Timo Boll and Belarus’ Vladimir Samsonov joined forces at the training camp to hone their skills in a bid to overcome the powerful Chinese.

In the men’s doubles action yesterday, Dutch pair Trinko Keen and Danny Heister beat Australians William Henzell and David Zalcberg to earn a match against Chinese top seeds Chen Qi and Ma Lin.

South Koreans Koo Sae Hyuk and Oh Sang Eun defeated Germany’s Jorg Rosskopf and Lars Hielscher and will play Hong Kong’s No. 3 seeds Ko Lai Chak and Li Ching.

Germany’s other pair of Boll and Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth fared better against Japan’s Ryo Yuzawa and Shu Arai and will play fourth seeded South Koreans Lee Chui Seung and Ryu Seung Min. In second round men’s singles action, Hong Kong’s Leung Chu Yan beat North Korea’s O Il, Frenchman Patrick Chela defeated Nigeria’s Segun Toriola and Japan’s Koji Matsushita.Hong Kong’s Li Cheng also progressed against Brazil’s Thiago Monitiero, as did Croatia’s Zoran Primorac against Bosnia Herzegovina’s Srdjan Milicevic.