Swede Waldner most fearful to Chinese table tennis players

CHANGSHA, South China, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner has been voted "the most fearful" to Chinese table tennis players, a recent poll shows.

The results of the poll, which was conducted among over 100 active and retired Chinese players, were announced here on Friday, the opening day of the World Table Tennis Champions' Tournament.

Waldner, who had won a "grand slam" of Olympic, world championships and World Cup men's singles titles in his over-20-year-long career, tops the all-time list of "the most fearful foreign players."

Hungary's Ferenc Sido (1923-1998) places second and Japan's Ichiro Ogimura (1932-1994) is third.

South Korean Ryu Seung Min, Olympic men's singles gold medallist in 2004, stands fourth, followed by Jean-Philippe Gatien of France, 1993 women's world champion Hyun Jung Hwa of South Korea and Stellan Bengsston of Sweden.

Timo Boll of Germany, currently ranked fifth in the world, comes in eighth.

Former Yugoslaivan player Dragutin Surbeck and 1959 women's singles champion Kimiyo Matsuzaki of Japan rounded off the top 10.