After two days of qualification at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, the main talking point among the crowd has 14-year-old French world number 355 Marie Migot, who thrived on the home crowds support to successfully navigate qualification to ensure a first round match against Tetyana Bilenko of Ukraine.

French national champion Simon Gauzy faces a tough draw against South Korea's Seo Hyundeok in the opening round, whilst world number one Xu Xin of China will face Germany's Steffen Mengel.

Olympic and reigning world champion Zhang Jike, also of China, has been suffering from highly erratic form in recent months, but he should have little trouble passing world number 321 Fabian Akertstrom of Sweden in the opening round.

Olympic champion Zhang Jike is under increasing pressure to recapture his form

China's head coach Liu Guoliang defended his out-of-form star following the draw and backed him to reach at least the final four in Paris.

"For this competition, I expect Zhang Jike to reach the semi-finals just like his world ranking." he said. 

"If the target is too high, the pressure increases and a player may not be able to complete the task.

"If the target is too low, then there could be no stimulation, so we set it in the semi-finals.

"Of course, this is just an initial requirement in this competition.

"There are five major battles in this new Olympic cycle and the Paris World Championships is just the first of the five.

"If Zhang Jike be able to find that strong desire for victory, then he is still the most popular candidate to win."

"Before, Zhang Jike had a tattoo that said 'persistence'.

"I want to tell him that such word should not only be in his body but also be engraved deep in his heart.

"I hope that he will never be satisfied."

His compatriot, world number eight Ma Lin, is making his final appearance at a world championships and will face home favourite Christophe Legout in the first round.

China's Ma Lin will make his final World Championships appearance in Paris

"The draw is not very important, what's important is your performance in the competition." he said.

"Actually, I am still looking forward for Paris, it is one beautiful city.

"France is one of the countries in Europe and even in the whole world that is knowledgeable of the game.

"I am looking forward to competing here again."

"I am both excited and nervous, after all, this will be my last world competition.

"The significance may not the same but it would be just like in the past.

"I will still go all out to prepare."

Women's top seed and reigning world champion Ding Ning will take on Zhenhua Dederko of Australia in the first round as her Chinese compatriot, Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia, is handed a tough tie against Lithuanian former European champion Ruta Paskauskiene.

The ITTF Executive Committee is due to be elected in Paris tomorrow, and President of 14 years Adham Sharara will run for re-election against European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) President Stefano Bosi.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
May 2013: Record number of competitors in Paris for World Table Tennis Championships
May 2013: Draw made for 2013 World Table Tennis Championships