XU Xin Wins 11th ITTF World Tour Title at Japan Open

XU Xin has broken the hearts of the capacity Japanese crowd by defeating local hero Maharu YOSHIMURA at the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Japan Open (Super Series) men’s singles final.

Chinese XU won his 11th ITTF World Tour title over the surprise finalist, 22 year old YOSHIMURA, who made his way to the final from qualification stage, 9-11, 11-2, 14-12, 11-7, 11-7 today in Kobe, Japan.

XU, who won both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles World Championships crowns earlier this year, stated “This is my first Japan Open, so it is very special for me to win here. Yoshimura played amazingly well. He is still young and is going to be a big rival to me and the Chinese team in the future.”

“He surprised me in the first set, and the large crowd supporting him put me off my game a little. I made some adjustments in the second game and I was very relieved when I won it, to make it 1-1, as then I believed I could win. Winning ITTF World Tour titles are always a great feeling!”

CHEN Meng proved that she is still a top force in women’s table tennis despite not being selected for the singles line-up at the recent World Championships team by becoming the women’s champion.

Making the title even sweeter for CHEN is that she shocked the current World Champion and world number one DING Ning in the semi final, to show her strength.

Xu Xin claims 11th ITTF World Tour victory in Kobe, Japan!

In the women’s singles final, CHEN won a tight seven-games battle against compatriot ZHU Yuling, who she also beat in the 2011 World Junior Table Tennis Championships final, 13-11,6-11,5-11,11-4,11-5,6-11,11-7 to win her fifth ITTF World Tour title.

After her victory, the excited 21 year old stated “To win the tournament is very important, but more than that, is to improve as a player in each match, which will hopefully lead me to becoming the World Champion one day.”

“I am happy to win this championship. My last two matches were very tough, this victory will give me a lot of confidence in the future.”

World Champion MA Long (CHN) made up for his shocking secondround defeat in the singles, which was also his first defeat in 2015, by winning the men’s doubles with teammate and singles champion XU Xin.

The due had too much experience in the crucial moments against their Chinese colleagues FAN Zhendong & SHANG Kun in the final, winning 11-8, 13-11, 7-11, 10-12, 11-8 to ensure the reigning World Champion does not go home empty handed.

China’s defensive pair of LIU Fei & WU Yang continued China’s golden day by defeating Singapore’s LIN Ye & ZHOU Yihan 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5 to win the Women’s doubles title on their first partnership.

With China sweeping the titles in the senior’s events, it was Japan’s time to shine in the under 21 category. Hitomi SATO (JPN) won her fourth consecutive under 21 women’s title, to score a record of 7 titles under her belt. Teammate Yuya OSHIMA (JPN) made up for losing the under 21 finals at the two previous ITTF World Tour events to become the champion in front of his home crowd.

The world’s best table tennis players now head to the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Korea Open (Super Series) being held in Incheon to fight for more Race to Lisbon points.

ITTF Celebrates 300th World Tour At Japan Open

The GAC Group 2015 World Tour Super Series, Japan Open in Kobe, Japan will be the 300th ITTF World Tour event, since its creation in 1996.

The ITTF World Tour revolutionized table tennis, as it gave the top players regular tournaments around the world, and a steady income from the prize money. The World Tour has gone from strength to strength in the past 19 years, and will continue to grow and develop table tennis around the world.

The Japan Open, being held on 24 – 28 June 2015 is the 11th stop of the US$3,000,000 GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour, with qualification rounds beginning today, 24 June 2015 at the Green Arena Kobe. The prestigious event sees participation of 167 men and women from 21 countries, all vying to be the 14thJapan Open Champion.

World number one MA Long will be making his first international appearance since becoming World Champion last month. Since the 26 year old has yet to lose a match in 2015, MA will is the hot favorite to win his 20th World Tour title here in Kobe.

Ma Long (CHN) .QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN, photo credit ITTF Media

The champion of the world stated: “I always enjoy coming to Japan. Despite finally winning my first World Championships, I am still hungry to win more and more World Tour titles and create the record for the most in history, which is currently held by SAMSONOV who has 26”

World number two XU Xin will be determined to put his disappointing World Championship behind him in Kobe. XU was surprisingly knocked out in the quarter finals at the World Championships held in Suzhou, China, and will be determined to add to his nine World Tour titles.

The sold out Kobe crowd will be cheering for local favourite Jun MIZUTANI to cause some upsets against more fancied opponents again to reign supreme at the Japan Open, as he did in 2012.

World number one DING Ning will be full of confidence, after her epic victory in Suzhou, where she beat LIU Shiwen in the women’s singles final, despite badly injuring her ankle in the 7th game. DING is now fully recovered and looking to secure more Race to Lisbon points to book her place at the 2015 World Tour Grand Finals.

Singapore’s FENG Tianwei, the Japan Open defending champion, has not yet reached the form that won her three ITTF World Tour titles in 2014. The London 2012 bronze medalist will hope that returning to the place of her 2014 success will spark her form back into life.

Both DING and FENG will be pushed to their limits by the crowd favourites, Japanese trio of Ai FUKUHARA, Kasumi ISHIKAWA and 14 year old Mima ITO, who are all currently ranked in the top 10 and have all recorded success on the 2015 World Tour.

Qualifications for the 16 remaining positions available in the main draw of 32 takes place on 24 – 25 June, with the knockout action getting underway on 26 June, and the winners being crowned on Sunday, 28 June.

The GAC Group 2015 World Tour is offering a record US$3,000,000 in prize money, and will also be the most viewed in history, with more events shown live throughout the world on television, and all the events being shown live on ITTF’s live streaming platform, ITTF.com/itTV.

The Japan Open is one of six GAC Group World Tour Super Series events in 2015, which is the top tier on the World Tour. The rest of the World Tour events are split into Major series (6 events) and Challenge (11 events)

The top 16 singles and top 8 doubles pairs on the Race to Lisbon Standings will be invited to the prestigious 2015 World Tour Grand Finals to be held in Lisbon, Portugal on 10-13 December 2016.

ITTF World Tour Heads to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea

Popularity of table tennis in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea has soared recently.
International Table Tennis is returning to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea for the first time since 1979.

The GAC Group 2015 World Tour Challenge Series Pyongyang Open will take place on 29 July to 2 August in the Nations capital.

The Pyongyang Open will be the 13th stop on the GAC Group World Tour, and a valuable opportunity for the world’s best table tennis players to gain priceless Road to Lisbon points to qualify for the year ending World Tour Grand Final.

The ITTF World Tour will be one of only a handful international sporting event in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, so it promises to be an event to remember.

After returning from the Pyongyang Open site inspection, ITTF’s Marketing Director Steve DAINTON stated: “The Pyongyang Open is sure to be a fantastic table tennis event. It was amazing to see one of the best table tennis facilities in the world when we visited Pyongyang.

LIEBHERR 2013 World Table Tennis Championships,13 May 2013 – 20 May 2013, Paris, FRA

The venue will ensure its one of the best Challenge Series World Tour events of the year. It has also been 36 years since the last ITTF event was held there. Having seen the situation for myself I am sure it will truly be a memorable event.”

Table tennis is fast becoming one of the most popular sports in the country on the back KIM Hyok-Bong & KIM Jong, becoming the 2013 Mixed Doubles World Champions and the 2014 Asian Games Gold medalists, which has rocketed them to national stardom.

Entries for the historic event are closing soon, so don’t miss out the chance to be apart of this unique event. Click here: http://bit.ly/1LgivGD for more information on the ground breaking Pyongyang Open.

Before the GAC Group World Tour heads to Pyongyang, the next stop is the Japan Open, which starts in Kobe, Japan tomorrow 23 June 2015.

Record for Youngest Winner of ITTF World Tour Broken for Third Time in 12 Months

China’s YU Ziyang breaks record for youngest men’s singles winner of ITTF World Tour.
Photo by: Tomo WATANABE / ITTF

16-year-old YU Ziyang of China has broken the record for youngest ever winner of a World Tour Title at 16 years and 30 days old, 254 days younger than previous record holder Japan’s SAMBE Kohei was when he won the 2014 Chile Open at 16 years and 284 days.

This is the third time the record has been broken in the last 12 months, when China’s FAN Zhendong won at 16 years 292 days at the 2013 German Open.

YU defeated world number eight and 2012 title holder, Japan’s MIZUTANI Jun, 4-2 (8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 11-8) in the Men’s Singles Final at the 2014 Japan Open, last of six Super Series events of the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour.

Playing in just his second World Tour, YU commented: “I had more confidence in myself after entering the quarterfinals in the Korea Open last week, and it helped me in this tournament.”

“Before coming to the Japan Open, my goal set was to enter the Quarterfinals and Semifinals. Of course I thought of winning the title, but I was really playing match by match, trying to do my best for each, and not thinking too much.”

Asked about being the youngest player to win a Men’s Singles Title in the World Tour’s 19-year-history, YU smiled: “I am happy, but to me, age is not really an important factor. The main point for me is to win!”

Upsets were abound in the Men’s Singles, as top seed CHUANG Chih-yuan (TPE) and defending champion SHIONO Masato (JPN) were knocked out in the first round of the Main Draw. This also marks the second year in a row that a qualifier has won the Japan Open.

Home ground advantage saw a strong performance by the Japanese team, with Japanese contenders in five out of six finals at the Japan Open, who eventually won three gold medals.

In the women’s singles, top seed FENG Tianwei of Singapore proved too strong for second seed Japan’s ISHIKAWA Kasumi, and the crowd was audibly disappointed as the Singaporean defeated ISHIKAWA 4-2 (12-10, 9-11, 3-11, 11-3, 11-5, 13-11).

World number five, FENG, who has two World Tour singles titles to her name this year having previously claimed the Philippines and Australian Open, said: “It was a tough and exciting match against Ishikawa. We have met several times before in international tournaments, and we both had wins and losses.”

“I think both of us gave our best efforts to perform well in the finals match, and we both did well. I am in good shape today, and am very happy with my win.”

KISHIKAWA Seiya and MIZUTANI Jun of Japan cruised to 3-0 (13-11,11-9,13-11) win over top seed CHIANG Hung-Chieh and HUANG Sheng-Sheng (TPE), taking a gold for Japan in the Men’s Doubles.

FUKUHARA Ai and WAKAMIYA Misako earned another gold for Japan in the Women’s Doubles, defeating FENG Tianwei and YU Mengyu of Singapore 3-2 (11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 13-11). The Japanese duo last played together at the 2013 German Open, where they lost in the finals, due to an injury keeping FUKUHARA out of the international scene.

On their comeback in Japan, national icon FUKUHARA commented: “We are very glad and happy to win in Japan, our home country! It was relaxing to play in front of a very supportive and large home crowd.”

“The key to our success was strong cooperation and our playing styles fit each other. We hope to be able to train more together, and become a stronger pair to be strong contenders at the 2014 Asian Games and 2015 World Team Table Tennis Championships.”

In the Under-21 Men’s Singles, Brazil’s CALDERANO Hugo lived up to expectations as top seed, defeating JANG Woojin of Korea Republic 4-2 (11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-8) just a day before his 18th birthday.

For the Under-21 Women’s Singles, 8th seed 18-year-old MORI Sakura (JPN), a member of the Japanese squad who won silver at the recent ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships in Tokyo, delighted the home crowd with a 4-1 (11-6,11-1,12-10,5-11,11-6) upset over 2nd seed CHEN Szu-Yu (TPE).