GOOD START: China’s Zhang Jike serves to Sweden’s Fabian Akerstrom during the first round of the Men’s Singles competition at the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris. (AFP)

AFP/Paris

Defending champion Zhang Jike of China began the quest to retain his world championship title in Paris with a routine victory over Sweden’s Fabian Akerstrom yesterday.

Seeded fourth in the French capital following a string of inconsistent displays this year Zhang, who triumphed over compatriot Wang Hao to claim the Olympic title in London and complete a career Grand Slam, experienced little trouble in his opening-round encounter against world number 321 Akerstrom as he prevailed 11-5, 11-1, 12-10, 11-7.

Next up for Zhang is 79th-ranked Gustavo Tsuboi of Brazil.

World number one and top seed Xu Xin also eased through to the second round after brushing aside Germany’s Steffen Mengel 11-5, 11-8, 11-2, 11-8 inside the Bercy arena.

2009 champion Wang Hao recovered from losing the opening game to spirited Mexican Marcos Madrid before advancing 9-11, 11-7, 11-1, 11-9, 11-9 while last year’s World Cup winner and No. 2 seed Ma Long saw off India’s Soumyajit Ghosh 11-8, 11-4, 11-3, 11-9. There were also wins for veteran Chinese stars Ma Lin, a former Olympic and World Cup title-holder, and three-time world champion Wang Liqin, who is the last man to successfully defend his crown having won in 2001, 2005 and 2007.

German pair Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the main European contenders to Chinese supremacy, safely progressed to round two after respective wins over Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Admir Duranspahic and Viacheslav Burov of Belarus.

Earlier, women’s title-holder and top-ranked player Ding Ning of China started the defence of her crown by dispatching 226th-ranked Zhenhua Dederko of Australia 11-6, 11-2, 11-5, 11-3.

“Despite the fact it was the first match, the atmosphere is already quite good. The arena, the lights, everything suits me,” said Ding, who will face Nanthana Komwong of Thailand in round two later on Wednesday.

England’s Kelly Sibley provided little resistance against Liu Shiwen as the two-time World Cup winner and Chinese second seed prevailed 11-3, 11-2, 11-1, 11-8, while Olympic title-holder Li Xiaoxia recovered from losing the opening game to defeat Lithuania’s Ruta Paskauskiene, the world No. 1298.

Feng Tianwei of Singapore, the highest non-Chinese entrant in the women’s draw as the fourth seed, beat Iulia Necula of Romania 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6.

There were also relatively straightforward victories for the other members of the imposing Chinese squad, Zhu Yuling, Wu Yang and Chen Meng, as well as qualifier Hu Limei.

12th-ranked Ai Fukuhara of Japan was the biggest first-round casualty as she was sent packing by South Korea’s Park Seonghye 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 11-6; however, her compatriot Kasumi Ishikawa fared considerably better as she eased past Nadeen El-Dawlatly of Egypt.

Shen Yanfei of Spain, the top-rated European, progressed after beating Brazilian Jessica Yamada 11-9, 11-9, 11-2, 11-2.