Table tennis grand slam winner Liu Guoliang elbowed his way into the World Cup knockout stage on October 29 as fellow Chinese Kong Linghui and Wang Liqin crashed out.

　 Liu, who has won the Olympic, world championships and World Cup top honors, placed second to Belgian Jean-Michel Saive in Group B, qualifying for the quarter-finals.

　 Liu crushed Peter Jackson of New Zealand in straight sets to post a 2-1 win-loss record as Saive kept unbeaten after a 16-21, 21-19, 21-16 victory over South Korean Kim Taek Soo.

　 Kong Linghui, 1995 world champion and World Cup winner, lost to Austrian Werner Schlager 21-16, 21-14. Schlager qualified along with Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.

　 Japanese Koji Matsushita chopped down Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner 21-14, 17-21, 21-12 in a meaningless game. Both had reached the knock-out stage with Wang Liqin out with a 1-2 book.

　 Former world champion Jorgen Persson kept a clean sheet after nipping Canadian Johnny Huang, 21-14, 20-22, 21-13. Joining the Swede in the quarter-finals is two-time World Cup winner Zoran Primorac from Croatia.

　 In Saturday's quarter-finals, Schlager takes on Waldner, Liu faces Persson with Matsushita vs Samsonov and Primorac against Saive.