A COURT has resumed hearing a case filed by a former table tennis world champion whose medals were stolen in a burglary.

Jiang Jialiang, 42, won six world titles in the 1980s, and his wife Wu Yufang won a national best actress award in 1985.

A thief climbed into the couple's apartment in a high-end residential complex in Pudong on August 16 last year, making off with not only jewelry but four gold medals.

Police arrested a 23-year-old Zhejiang Province native, Xu Axiao, for the theft as well as other burglaries. However, Jiang's medals have not been found. Xu was jailed for 10 years in April over 15 thefts.

Xu allegedly told police that he threw the medals into a garbage bin, thinking they were not made of pure gold.

The couple is suing for 150,000 yuan (US$19,900) in compensation from Shanghai Zhengda Property Management Co and the complex's developer, Shanghai Zhengda Delta Co.

The couple claimed the property managers didn't repair the broken security gate system until after the burglary, and blamed security guards in their building for being slack in their duties.

Two witnesses testified in Pudong New Area People's Court in Thursday's hearing that the security guards often took naps on the job.

The court has waited for 10 months to hear the case after the first hearing was suspended last year to deal with the burglar.