The host nation’s team, comprised of Byrone Abrahams, Zakeer Moosa and Cade Peters, fell to a 3-0 loss in their first encounter against Italy at the GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World venue.

The Italians, seeded 11th, won all three matches on their way to a comfortable victory in Group C.

Keen to bounce back from the early loss at the hands of Italy, South Africa then took on Canada, but were on the wrong end of the same scoreline to ensure they ended the first day of the competition without a victory to their name.

In Group A, the Czech Republic's Tomas Polansky, Patrik Klos and Jiri Martinko overcame the Australian trio formed by Jake Duffy, Dominic Huang and Ben Gould 3-0, marking a perfect start to their attempt at sealing the world title.

The 3-0 scoreline proved common on the opening day as Belgium also triumphed by clinching victory in all three contests in their Group B clash with Nigeria.

Florian Cnudde, Laurens Devos and Thibaut Darcis proved too strong for their African opponents, who fielded Rilwan Akanbi, Tobi Falana and Azeez Solanke.

Kanak Jha, Jack Wang and Adar Alguetti delivered a 3-0 triumph for the United States over New Zealand in Group D.

New Zealand then followed South Africa in losing two games today as they were soundly beaten 3-0 by Argentina.

Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy and the United States are the top-ranked sides entered into the preliminary round of the event.

They are all bidding to finish at the summit of their respective group, with the winners joining the top eight teams in the main draw of the competition.

In the girls’ event, Fiji were on the losing side in both of their contests as they lost 3-0 to Serbia, before succumbing to a similar defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico.

South Africa, much like their boys’ team, were also beaten twice.

They opened the tournament with a 3-0 reverse to Spain before Canada swept all three matches to condemn the hosts to another defeat.

The ITTF World Junior Championships in Cape Town continue tomorrow.