Korea beats Croatia in men's table tennis team event

Cho Dae-seong, left, and Jang Woo-jin play against Filip Zeljko and Andrej Gacina of Croatia in the round of 16 of the men's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics at an arena in Paris, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap

Korea cruised past Croatia in its first knockout match of the men's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics, Tuesday, with the top-ranked China up next in the quarterfinals.

Jang Woo-jin, Cho Dae-seong and Lim Jong-hoon carried Korea past Croatia 3-0 after one doubles match and two singles matches in the round of 16 at South Paris Arena in the French capital.

In the opening doubles, Jang and Cho dispatched Filip Zeljko and Andrej Gacina 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-6) without breaking a sweat.

Lim Jong-hoon wasted little time giving Korea a 2-0 lead, as he defeated Tomislav Pucar in the first singles match 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-9).

Back out for the second singles match, Jang beat Gacina 3-1 (11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4), as Korea finished off the match at 3-0.

In the quarterfinals scheduled for Wednesday, Korea will face the mighty China, which features world No. 1 Wang Chuqin, world No. 2 Fan Zhendong and world No. 6 Ma Long. They knocked off India 3-0 in their round of 16 on Tuesday.

Jang is the top-ranked Korean player at No. 13.

The men's team event made its Olympic debut in 2008, and China has won every gold medal so far. Ma played on the past three gold medal-winning teams.

Korea won bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012. (Yonhap)