Waldner may play some low-level tournaments

Shanghai: Swedish table tennis great Jan-Ove Waldner has announced his retirement from international competition, drawing the curtains on a 19-year career.

The former Olympic and world champion, famous for his duels with China?s top paddlers, said he would not play at the top level again after the world championships under way in Shanghai.

?I will quit from Sweden?s national team after the championships,? he said.

?I have yet to decide whether to leave the sport completely or not, but there is one thing for sure: I will never compete with top Chinese players on the same table.

?Maybe I will play some low level tournaments in Europe as long as I am in good form,? he said.

Waldner still has one last chance for a final hurrah, playing world no.4 Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus in the third round.

Sweden battled China for dominance over a decade from the late 1980s to the 1990s, and Waldner was throughout his career often the main European rival to China?s stream of world champions.

At the Athens Olympics, the 39-year-old toppled China?s Ma Lin and German prodigy Timo Boll before being beaten by eventual champion Ryu Seung Min of South Korea in the semi-finals.

His career highlight was winning the men?s singles title at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and the world championships in Manchester in 1997.