BUDAPEST, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Despite being top seeds in the mixed doubles, Wong Chun Ting and Doo Chun Ting of Hong Kong, China might have their journey cut short by an unseeded combination at the world table tennis championships.
The 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champions are expected to win over Romania's Cristian Pletea and Elizabeta Samara in the first round and will find their second round rivals just too strong.
Fan Zhendong and Ding Ning, seeded No. 1 in the men's and women's singles respectively, had to fight through two preliminary round games since they had never played as a mixed doubles team.
The Chinese pair hardly broke a sweat in the qualification rounds and will take on host players Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz in the first round.
If things go well, Fan and Ding will confront the Hong Kong team for a spot in the round of 16 on Monday evening.
"Even though we had not played as a team before, I believe we can go far in the event," said Ding, a three-time Olympic champion.
