The Chinese player has an impressive record in the competition having emerged victorious in 2019, 2018 and 2016 and claimed silver in 2015.

Having clinched his second successive World Cup crown last year, Fan will now be hoping to complete an unprecedented hat-trick at the Weihai Nanhai Olympic Center.

Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto lost in last year’s final and the 17-year-old will be bidding to go one step further this time around.

There is also expected to be a strong challenge from another teenager in Lin Yun-Ju who is seeded seventh and came third in 2019.

While Harimoto and Lin are in the early stages in his career, former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov will be making his 13th appearance in the competition.

Three-time world champion Ma Long will also be hoping to draw upon all of his experience having won the event in 2012 and 2015.

The top eight names receive a direct entry to the main draw, meaning tomorrow’s action will focus on four groups battling to advance to the knockout stages.

Group One is the only group consisting of four players featuring Jeoung Youngsik of South Korea, Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong, Tomislav Pucar of Croatia, and Ahmed Saled of Egypt.

Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan, England’s Liam Pitchford and Kanak Jha of the United States will go head to head in Group Two.

Seeded 13th, Nigerian Quadri Aruna will be playing in his sixth World Cup but will need to overcome German Patrick Franziska and Slovenia’s Darko Jorgić to progress from Group Three.

The two oldest participants in the event will lock horns in Group Four as Brazilian Gustavo Tsuboi, 37. and Austrian Robert Gardos, 41, line up alongside 25-year-old Jang Woojin of South Korea.

Players finishing in first and second positions in each group will join the top eight seeds in the main draw which concludes on Sunday (November 15).