The London 2012 Olympic gold medallist has been absent from the global stage since his somewhat surprise defeat to South Korea's Lee Sang-su in the third round of the men’s singles event at the 2017 World Championships in June. 

Zhang is one of a number of Chinese men’s players due to compete at the event, which officially commences on Friday (November 10) following a three-day qualification tournament.

World silver medallist Fan Zhendong also appears on the entry list along with Xu Xin, who has struggled for form this year and was beaten by Japan’s Koki Niwa in the quarter-finals of the Asian Championships in April. 

Among the other Chinese players with points to prove in Magdeburg is Lin Gaoyuan, following an up-and-down year.

Lin has claimed victories this year at the ITTF Asian Cup and ITTF Austrian Open events, beating compatriots Fan and Yan An in the respective finals.

The 22-year-old has been prone to throwing away commanding seventh-game leads, however, including against Xu at the World Championships and Germany’s Timo Boll at last month’s Men’s World Cup.

Also due to compete for China are Yan, who won the Hungarian Open at the start of this year and Zhou Yu, a three-time men’s singles finalist on the ITTF World Tour.

Two of Zhou’s previous finals came in 2012 when he was beaten by Xu in Russia and Wang in Poland.

His third and most recent final was again in Poland in 2013, where he lost to Fan. 

In the women's singles event, Wu Yang is the defending champion.

Past winners Liu Jia of Austria, Shan Xiaona of Germany and Mima Ito of Japan are also on the entry list.

Competition will be held at the GETEC Arena.

Action is scheduled to run until November 12.