Shanghai Daily News

Chinese men's table tennis team coach Liu Guoliang (left) and world No.2 Ma Lin (right) along with a team staff peruse through the draw list of the world championship in Shanghai yesterday.(Photo: Shanghai Daily)

Chinese coaches warned their players against complacency after the draw for the upcoming World Table Tennis Championship was announced in Shanghai yesterday.

Most of the top-ranked players have been excluded from the preliminary qualifers which is scheduled to take off this weekend.

The men's singles fixtures mean local favorite Wang Liqin, the 2001 World Championship winner, will not face serious challenge until a possible quarterfinal clash with compatriot veteran Kong Linghui.

Another Chinese title hopeful Wang Hao and South Korea's Ryu Seung-min will be looking for a rematch of last year's Athens Olympic final in which Ryu outclassed Wang Hao. A win for Wang Hao will send him through to the final four.

European stars, including defending champion Werner Schlager  of Austria and Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner, along with Chinese Taipei's Chuan Chih-yuan, will battle it out for the other semifinal berths.

Another Chinese star player Ma Lin will be eying one of the final four berths if he manages to fend off German ace Timo Boll and fellow Chinese Liu Guozheng.

China is keen to regain the men's singles title and is unlikely to face any severe test until the later stages of the championship but Chinese coaches are aware of possibilities of early upsets.

"In the first two rounds, most of our players will play qualifiers and that's dangerous if we take victories for granted," said Liu Guoliang, the head coach of the men's team.

"Our opponents will have already played two or more matches in the qualifying while some of our players may be struggling to find their pace. That's why we need to focus on the initial rounds rather than look at the quarterfinal and semifinal clashes right now."

The preliminary rounds will get underway on Saturday while most Chinese players will not see any action until the main draw which begins on Monday.

Chinese women's coach Lu Yuansheng is hoping for a quick recovery of his star player, Olympic champion Zhang Yining, who is battling a shoulder strain.

"Zhang began full training today," said Lu, who arrived in Shanghai last Sunday along with the rest of the Chinese team. "I am not particularly worried about her physical condition. If she get through the opening rounds, her game will take off."

Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Kim Hyang-mi, the runner-up to Zhang in Athens, and Japan's Aya Umemura are Zhang's biggest rivals.

Besides Zhang, China can still rely on veteran paddler and defending champion Wang Nan, who will have to fend off South Korea's World No.10 Kim Kyung-ah.

Besides the coveted singles titles, there are other three trophies on offer at the blue-ribbon event, namely the men's and women's doubles as well as the mixed doubles. Wang Liqin and teammate Yan Sen are favorites to retain their men's doubles title, while China has traditionally been dominant in the women's doubles.