OSAKA -- China's top-seeded duo Wang Nan and Li Ju disposed of Italy's Yu Wang and Nikoleta Stefanova on Monday as the reigning world champions began the defense of their women's doubles title at the table tennis world championships in Osaka.
Wang and Li, gold medalists at last year's Sydney Olympics, saw off the Italian outsiders 21-12, 21-14 with little trouble in a bid to add to China's gold medal count following its weekend victories in the men's and women's team competitions.
South Korea's Sydney bronze medalists Kim Moo Kyo and Ryu Ji Hye, ranked eighth in the world, also ambled into the second round with an easy 2-0 victory over Australia's Miao Miao and May Cho, winning their first-round match 21-14, 21-10.
Japan's Miyuki Nishii and younger sister Yuka made a solid start to their doubles campaign by beating Taiwan's Huang Yi-hua and Chen Jing, women's singles gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, 21-13, 15-21, 21-15 to advance to the second round.
Team Nishii will meet Vivien Ello and Maria Fazekas on Tuesday after the Hungarian duo defeated Canada's Lijuan Geng and Marie-Christine Roussy 21-19, 14-21, 25-23.