Jan-Ove Waldner was knocked out of the 48th world table tennis championships on Tuesday by Belarus's Vladimir Samsonov in straight sets.

To the disappointment of a sell-out Chinese crowd, the 40-year-old Swede lost his third-round match 11-4, 15-13, 12-10, 11-7.

The first "Grand Slam" winner of Olympic, world championships and World Cup singles titles, Waldner is the most popular foreign table tennis player in China.