Vladimir Samsonov is the top seed for the year-opening ITTF event ©ITTF

Belarus' Vladimir Samsonov is set to face an intriguing test from China's second tier of men's talent at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Hungarian Open in Budapest.

Samsonov, the 40-year-old world number eight who has now spent over two decades in the world's top 10, is the number one seed as he seeks to build upon a year in which he finished fourth in the singles at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Two other stalwarts of the ITTF World Tour in South Korean defender Jeoung Young-sik and Taiwan's Chuang Chih-yuan are seeded second and third.

China's team is led by fourth seed and world number 12 Fang Bo in the absence of the world top four ranked players: Olympic champion Ma Long, world number two Fan Zhendong and Olympic team gold medallists Xu Xin and Zhang Jike.

But the world's dominant power is also represented by three other players - Yan An, Liang Jingkun and Shang Kun - who have been forced to qualify for the main draw due to their lack of international pedigree, and consequently low world rankings.

Shang Kun and his Chinese men's singles team-mates have been forced to play in the qualification rounds ©ITTF/Richard Kalocsai
Shang Kun and his Chinese men's singles team-mates have been forced to play in the qualification rounds ©ITTF/Richard Kalocsai

Yan, however, won the 2013 Swedish Open while Liang and Shang each excelled during last year's Chinese Men's Super League.

It is thought that the trio could eventually challenge for positions in the top tier of the Chinese national team.

Knock-out action is set to begin tomorrow.

Leading the way in the women's draw is China's world number 10 Chen Meng.

The Netherlands' Chinese-born Li Jie is seeded second.

Both male and female events are set to culminate with finals on Sunday (January 22).