BEIJING, Oct 31: The 2002 table tennis Men’s World Cup singles event began with a bang Thursday as Nigerian outsider Segun Toriola almost delivered a shock defeat to former champion Zoran Purimorac of Croatia.

Purmiorac, a World Cup winner in 1993 and 1997, fought back from the brink in

the opening round Group D tie in China’s city of Jinan after Toriola had him pinned down just three points from defeat.

Leading 3-1 in games and 8-4 up in the fifth game, the Nigerian — ranked just 83 in the world despite being Commonwealth champion — looked set for a famous win.

But the wily Croatian stormed back, eventually squeezing past 4-3 (7-11, 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5).

“It is a pity. I should have won the match,” Toriola told China’s Xinhua news agency after the game.

“I was close to victory but impatient and anxious in the fifth game when I took the lead. I will concentrate on the next group matches,” he said.

However the brave words failed to rouse Toriola into action, and he crashed to a 0-4 loss in his second group match to Austria’s Werner Schlager.

Purimorac is only at the event as a late substitute for Swedish all-time great Jan-Ove Waldner, who broke his right foot in late September.

In other early action, Chinese stars Wang Liqin and Ma Lin stormed to easy victories over Russell Lavale of Australia and Brazil’s Hugo Hoyama.

Hoyama had earlier been crushed 0-4 by top South Korean player Kim Taek-soo.

Results:

Group round

Group A: