Four years ago in Bremen the atmosphere was electric when Belarus beat Korea at the quarter-final stage of the women’s event at the Liebherr World Team Championships to guarantee a bronze medal.

Four years later, in their opening match against Japan in the group stage of proceedings, the atmosphere was not quite so electric as they faced fourth seeds Japan and there was to be no repeat of the Bremen Miracle on the morning of Sunday 23rd May 2010.

Belarus suffered a three-nil defeat but there was an atmosphere.

A group of some 60 Japanese supporters made their presence felt.

They waved their flags and between games or when a “Time Out” was called the cheer leader beckoned the faithful to an almighty chorus of “Nippon, Nippon, Nippon” or “Hirano, Hirano, Hirano”.

The supremely polite 25 year old Sayaka Hirano, currently standing at no.14 on the ITTF Women’s World Rankings duly responded to beat Viktoria Pavlovich in a repeat of the 2009 German Open Women’s Singles final to put Japan on the road to victory.

Patient, directing her top spin strokes towards the backhand of her adversary, high level of consistency eventually paid dividends.

Ai Fukuhara to the cries of “Ai-Chan, Ai-Chan, Ai-Chan” duly extended the lead but she herself was extended; she needed the full five games to beat Veronika Pavlovich, eventually succeeding by the very narrowest of margins in the vital fifth game.

It was a dagger in the heart for Belarus, Hiroko Fujii duly brought matters to an end by beating Alena Dubkova to secure victory for Japan

A three-nil success for Japan and in the remaining two matches in the group it was the same result as Romania defeated Slovenia and Chinese Taipei overcame Russia.

Meanwhile, in the one further group in the Championships Division of the Women’s Team event completed on the first morning of action, matters went very much according to prediction.

Korea secured a three-nil win over France as did Hong Kong in opposition to North Korea whilst Hungary defeated Ukraine by three matches to one.

Hungary, fifth place in Guangzhou two years ago will undoubtedly need to be at their best to repeat the finish of 2008. Korea and Hong Kong present very formidable opposition whilst North Korea are somewhat of an unknown quantity

Against Ukraine, Hungary did not make the best of starts. Georgina Pota was beaten by Margayta Pesotska but wins for Krisztina Toth in opposition to Tetyana Sorchynska and Margaryta Pestoska provided the backbone of success.

The one further win for Hungary came in the third match of the duel with Petra Lovas defeating Gana Gapanova.