PARIS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Title favorite Fan Zhendong of China will take on Brazilian paddler Gustavo Tsuboi to kick off his 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup campaign after the knock-out phase drawing ceremony was held here on Friday.
Eight highest-ranked players automatically make into the main draw, while the remaining 12 paddlers are slotted into four groups, with the first and second positions from each group joining top eight seeds.
World No. 1 Fan hopes to relive his title-winning memory at the tournament two years ago, his first major world title in the singles event.
German veteran Timo Boll is placed automatically at position 16, and enters the bottom half with fellow countryman Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the defending champion.
Another Chinese paddler Lin Gaoyuan joins Fan in the top half. Lin will face Kanak Jha of the United States, born in 2000, in round of 16.
"It's quite normal," Fan talked about being slotted into the same half with Lin.
"It's 50-50 percent. As my position has been fixed, actually I cannot do too much about that. So I just focus on every opponent ahead, and make full preparation from my first match here," he added.
"I need to play well and try to put on an all-Chinese semifinal with Fan," echoed Lin.
Thousands of crowds in Disney Event Arena had every reason to feel satisfied as two Frenchmen Simon Gauzy and Emmanuel Lebesson got through the group phase. Gauzy rallied from three games down to upset Nigerian Quadri Aruna, who was later eliminated after losing to Jha. Gauzy will face South Korean Lee Sang-su in round of 16.
Boll will meet Lebesson, while Ovtcharov's first round opponent will be Mattias Falck of Sweden.
Belarusian legend Vladimir Samsonov, 42, will fight for a quarterfinal berth against Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong, China. The 15-year-old Japanese paddler Harimoto Tomokazu, the youngest competitor of the tournament, is set to meet Jeong Sang-eun of South Korea.
The other match will be played between Niwa Koki of Japan and Jonathan Groth of Denmark.
The 39th edition of ITTF Men's World Cup is held in Disneyland located in eastern suburb of Paris until Sunday.
