Ma Long and Zhang Jike, two table tennis Grand Slam winners, booked a possible clash in ITTF World Tour China Open men's singles semifinals as the draw was unveiled here on Tuesday.
Ma became the fifth men's Grand Slam winner after beating Zhang 4-0 in Rio Olympic Games final one month ago. Ma will kick off his campaign against Leong Chee Feng of Malaysia, and his potential opponent in the quarterfinals will be 40-year-old Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, who finished men's singles fourth in Rio.
Before a possible re-match against Ma, Zhang has to go through Koki Niwa of Japan and Portuguese Tiago Apolonia. The Chinese duo will also feature in the doubles, along with Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin.
Other four Chinese players are placed in the singles bottom half, with Fan Zhendong, Fang Bo and Zhou Yu striving for a last four spot.
Placed in different halves, Olympic champion Ding Ning and world No. 1 Liu Shiwen are scheduled to meet in women's singles final.
Chen Xingtong and Wang Manyu, two Chinese players who got the nod in the last minute, will undoubtedly face an uphill journey in Chengdu. Chen has to kick off her campaign from preliminary rounds, while Wang has a possible second-round encounter with Liu Shiwen in front.
In the quarterfinals, Liu may revenge her loss to Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, China in Asian qualifications for Rio Olympic Games this April. Ding and another Chinese player Chen Meng are among the bottom half of the tournament, and the fifth women's Grand Slam winner has to maintain her hot momentum after a brilliant Rio journey.
Ding will partner with Liu in women's doubles, with Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling the other Chinese duo in this event.
Women's singles preliminary rounds and under-21 singles matches will be held on Wednesday.
