Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner, one of the table tennis all-time greats, kept low profile on the eve of the annual World Cup action.

The first player to have won a "Grand Slam" of the Olympic, world championships and World Cup titles was bundled with Asian champion Wang Liqin of China, Qian Qianli of Austria and Koji Matsushita of Japan in Group D. The two group leaders of four groups move into the eight-man knock-out stage.

"I'm sure that I won't finish last at the 16-player World Cup," said Waldner. "As for the championship, I can't say for certain."

Waldner is expected to reach the last eight since wildcards Qian and Matsushita won't pose serious challenge to the 34-year- old Swede, who last time won the World Cup in 1990. Wang is technically strong enough, if not mentally, to shake Waldner as the group leader. The lanky Chinese, who failed to live up to the billing as China's best hope at the world championships in the Dutch city Eindhoven in August with a straight-set loss to Frenchman Damien Eloi, vowed not to let the home crowd down.

"I haven't found my best form but my performance won't disappoint you," said Wang.

European champion and world top-ranked Vladimir Samsonov will vie for the top placing with 1995 world champion Kong Linghui of China and current world bronze medalist Werner Schlager of Austria. The other player in Group A -- Liu Song of Argentina is set to go out early.

Chinese Liu Guoliang, the only other "Grand Slam" winner in the world, will fight a grudge match with South Korean Kim Taek Soo who ousted Kong and Liu en route to the Asian Games title last December. The other players in Group B are former world No. 1 Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium and Peter Jackson of New Zealand.

Two-time World Cup champion Zoran Primorac of Croatia was grouped with 1991 world champion Jorgen Persson of Sweden, North American champion Johnny Huang of Canada and African champion Segun Toriola of Nigeria.

Defending World Cup champion Jorg Rosskopf of Germany opted out of the annual event to recover from a nagging shoulder injury. He asked his Borussia Dusseldorf teammate Samsonov to bring the World Cup trophy to the organizers. (Xinhua)