Ma, Ding eye three-peats at world championships

China's top paddlers aiming to shine at dress rehearsal for Tokyo Olympics

As the clock ticked down to Sunday's start of the ITTF world championships in Budapest, competitors plotted their possible routes to global glory.

It's the first major test for Chinese Table Tennis Association chairman Liu Guoliang, who has vowed to return the national team to the top of the world.

"Our team will be tested through the world championships, which is great preparation ahead of next year's Tokyo Olympics," the 43-year old said on Friday in Budapest.

"It's not only a test for the players, but a test run for the coaches and the support team. We must seize the opportunity.

"Both our men's and women's team are competitive enough to win gold. Team China is the first team that trained in the main stadium, and we are excited to feel the atmosphere and momentum for battle."

Earlier this year Liu outlined tough measures to return China to ping-pong prominence in response to rising regional rivals, particularly Japan.

The squad's structure was overhauled and a results-based evaluation system has been initiated for coaches, who can only score points by winning gold medals at international competitions.

Failing the evaluation will result in a coach's salary being cut in half, along with a demotion.

The world championships offers the greatest number of points this year (4,000), with a total of 18,000 up for grabs among all competitions.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's draw, Liu said he hoped the Chinese players would be separated, but four of the team's top men's singles players ended up bundled in the top half.

"There are two risks for the men's team and one of them is the draw situation," said Liu. "The other is the stability of the young players' performance.

"But they are all parts of the competition and we will be ready for that. In terms of next year's Olympics, we will try our best to win even if there will be only one player left."

For Chinese singles stars Ma Long and Ding Ning, a third straight world title awaits in Budapest－if major challenges can be overcome.

Pocketing another world title will not be an easy task for Ma, who just returned from an eight-month injury hiatus. But the three-time Olympic champion proved he's still a strong contender at the worlds by winning the recent Qatar Open and finishing runner-up at the Asian Cup.

Ranked the top seed at the past two worlds, the 30-year-old veteran is No 11 this time, but he drew the No 48 position on Saturday, thus avoiding head-to-head clashes with teammates earlier than the quarterfinals, where he is expected to face world No 3 Lin Gaoyuan if everything goes according to plan.

"It's already a success for me to be standing here for this competition following my injury, and I hope to perform well on the world stage," Ma said following the draw. "I'm under pressure because it's very likely that I'll face my teammates."

Ma can expect a semifinal with current world No 1 Fan Zhendong in a rematch of last year's final, while Liang Jingkun could be Fan's potential opponent in the round of 16.

Main threats for the Chinese team in the top half include Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, along with Japan's Koki Niwa and Jun Mizutani.

Xu Xin is China's only entrant in the bottom half, and could face the likes of England's Liam Pitchford, South Korea's Lee Sang-su, Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto and German veteran Timo Boll.

On the women's side, the quarterfinal stage shapes up as a monumental clash between China and Japan, with China's top-ranked Ding, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Liu Shiwen joining Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa, Mima Ito and Miu Hirano in the top eight.

A possible quarterfinal showdown is expected between Ding and Hirano, while Wang can expect to meet Ito in the last eight if she gets past 18-year-old compatriot Sun Yingsha.

"I didn't make any special preparations for the worlds; I just try my best in every match, no matter what. Hopefully I can get a good result here," said Ding.

Mixed doubles has been given increasing significance by all teams since being confirmed for the Tokyo Olympics. China will be represented by Xu/Liu and Fan/Ding at the worlds.

In men's doubles, Wang Chuqin, 19, will team up with Ma Long, and Liang Jingkun will partner with Lin Gaoyuan.

Chen Meng/Zhu Yuling and Wang Manyu/Sun Yingsha will feature in women's doubles.

Xinhua contributed to this story