It was an afternoon of sheer joy on Thursday 27th May 2010 for the faithful in the Olimpijsky Sports Complex in Luzhniki situated in the north of Moscow.

Russia posted a three matches to one victory over the Czech Republic in the first round of the main draw inf the men’s event and now progress to meet Germany in the quarter-finals.

It was all smiles on the faces of Alexei Smirnov, Fedor Kuzmin and Kirill Skachkov as they left the arena applauded by the Moscovite crowd.

The pressure was on, squarely on the shoulders of Alexei Smirnov at the start of his duel against Josef Simoncik, the man who less the 24 hours earlier had been the Czech hero against Chinese Taipei.

There was never much between the two players but at the vital stages the nerve of Smirnov held firm; nothing dynamic, percentage table tennis, the Russian forced errors at the crucial stages from Simoncik.

A straight games win was the end result, Smirnov breathed a sigh of relief. The Russian supporters stood in adulation.

The victory recorded by Alexei Smirnov to some extent reduced the pressure on the shoulders of Fedor Kuzmin, better to be entering the arena with your team ahead than in arrears.

Nevertheless, there was pressure and Kuzmin leading by two games to one and ahead in the early stages of the fourth game, made errors in opposition the Dmitrij Prokopcov.

The Czech player levelled, a deciding fifth game beckoned; Kuzmin re-grouped, at the change of ends he led 5-2.

He extended the lead to 7-2 but then did the pressure tell?

Certainly the gods smiled on the Czech Republic; an un-returnable edge saw Prokopcov level when trailing 8-9, then a net cord took him to 10-9, then incredibly another return that clipped the top of the net finished matters in favour of the visitor.

The pressure was now on the shoulders of Kirill Skachkov who although only 21 years has a wealth of experience; he was on duty for Russia at the 2006 Liebherr World Team Championships in Bremen, Germany.

Jiri Vrablik, seven years old, was the less experienced player on the global stage and facing the high energy Skachkov with his army of supporters gathered in the tiered seats immediately behind, it was a daunting task.

Skachkov responded to the task, he revelled in the atmosphere, posted a straight games win and it was advantage Russia.

It was a weight off the shoulders of Fedor Kuzmin who was next on court; urged on by the adoring supporters, he respond. He gave a workman-like performance to beat Dmitrij Prokopcov in straight games.

Russia had a place in the last eight; whatever happens next it was an improvement on 2008 when they had finished in 12th place at the Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships in Guangzhou and had failed to win a single fixture at the Beijing Olympic Games.

It was all smiles in Moscow.