Should Ovtcharov, 31, manage another triumph at the Swiss venue which has held the last two editions of this flagship event, he will draw level with his 38-year-old compatriot Timo Boll.

Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner is the most successful player in the history of the men's event, winning the tournament seven times and finishing runner-up on a further four occasions between 1984 and 1996.

Ovtcharov - currently the world number five, although like Boll he has previously held the position as world number one - is seeded three for the event in the Salle Omnisport du Pierrier.

Boll is seeded second, with top seeding going to Waldner’s compatriot Mattias Falck.

Seeded fourth is the Belarus player who makes Boll look like a youngster, 43-year-old Vladimir Samsonov, who has won this event four times.

Ovtcharov, who moved to Germany shortly after being born in Ukraine, will draw encouragement from the fact that he beat both Boll and Samsonov in winning this title last year.

As the title suggests, the men’s and women’s singles feature 16 players including the current European champions, the 14 highest-ranked Europeans other than the champion, and one player from the hosting national association.

Boll has qualified as 2018 European men’s champion, with his female counterpart being Li Qian of Poland.

Ovtcharov, who has won the men's title on five of the last seven occasions, told the ETTU that his victory last year had been important in improving his morale following the long-term injury he suffered in 2018.

"I was very happy when I won here last year because this victory gave me back a lot of self-confidence after 2018," he said.

"At the moment I am doing fine, so I definitely try to defend my title from last year."

Asked to assess his likely rivals, he responded: “The field is very strong and you have to be 100 per cent fit to be able to win this title.

"There are a lot of players who can defeat every other player so it is really hard to say who is the strongest opponent.

"There are quite a few as always.

"Of course, Timo is always a contender."

Looking ahead to Tokyo, he added: "Of course the Olympics are the main goal this year.

"We have a very strong team with Timo and Patrick [Franziska] and we definitely want to win a medal.

"This is also my aim in singles."

Beatrix Kishazi of Hungary and Li Jiao of The Netherlands share the record for the most wins in the women’s event, having each taken four titles.

Austria’s Sofia Polcanova, a bronze medallist last year, is top seed this year ahead of Romania’s Bernadette Szocs, who took silver last year and won in 2018.

Germany’s defending champion Petrissa Solja is seeded third, ahead of compatriot Han Ying.