Already one of the world’s most successful players in ITTF Women’s World Cup history, China’s LIU Shiwen aims to go a step further for a record fifth title at the Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup presented by Polar Naturals held in Markham, Canada from 27 -29 October 2017. After reigning World Champion DING […]
via Liu Shiwen Eyes Record Fifth ITTF World Cup Title in Markham — newfanzoneblog
19-year-old FAN Zhendong has raised doubts about the Chinese Olympic table tennis team selection with his victory at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Laox Japan Open today in Tokyo, Japan. The 2014 Youth Olympic Games champion defeated both ZHANG Jike and XU Xin, who were both selected ahead of FAN in Rio 2016 Chinese Olympic […]
via Fan and Liu Bounce Back After Olympic Selection Disappointment — newfanzoneblog
World number one LIU Shiwen has qualified for her fifth ITTF Women’s World Cup after claiming gold at the Nakheel 2016 ITTF-Asian Cup that concluded today, 30 March, in Dubai. LIU has achieved success on all her four previous trips at the Women’s World Cups, and is now the most successful player alongside her senior […]
via World Number One Table Tennis Player Liu Shiwen Qualifies for Fifth World Cup — newfanzoneblog
Champions and team mates at the recently concluded Perfect World Team Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese team now stands at the opposite ends of the table to fight for title at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Kuwait Open from 16-20 March 2016.
World number one MA Long (CHN) and LIU Shiwen (CHN) will be heading the seeding, and looking to claim an unprecedented third Kuwait Open title to create history. The duo will have to overcome challenges from both international competitors as well as compatriots who stood with them to claim the World Team Championships title in Malaysia earlier this month.
MA Long who had an impressive year in 2015 winning all the major World titles on offer, will have to face World numbers two to four, FAN Zhendong, XU Xin and ZHANG Jike, in attempt to defend the crown he earned in the same city last year.
Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Chinese Taipei’s CHUANG Chih-Yuan, both whom missed the World Championships due to injuries, will make their comeback here and lead the main challenges to MA and his team mates on their quest for gold in Kuwait.
The Chinese “Big Four”, LIU Shiwen, DING Ning, ZHU Yuling and LI Xiaoxia, will all be present as well to contest for their internal positioning in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Japanese trio of Ai FUKUHARA, Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Mima ITO who won silver at the World Team Championships will have to face off the Chinese team on duty in Kuwait to aim for the crown.
Singapore’s FENG Tianwei, having a bad year at the 2015 ITTF World Tour, will hope to restore her form to claim a title for herself. Considered the closest opponent to the Chinese dominance, FENG defeated LIU at the 2015 Asian Cup and during the Asian Championships.
The star-studded Kuwait Open is the third of the 20 events on the 2016 ITTF World Tour and the second Super Series event of the year. The ITTF World Tour is categorized into three tiers: Super (six events) Major series (six events) and Challenge (eight events). The higher the tier, the higher the prize money, better playing conditions and tougher competition for the title.
All the players playing ITTF World Tour events are fighting for not only for prize money and world ranking points, but also World Tour ranking points to qualify for the lucrative year-ending World Tour Grand Final, taking place on 15-18 December 2016 in a location to be announced.
The 2016 ITTF World Tour is set to be the most extensively followed tour 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.
In addition to the men’s and women’s singles event in Kuwait, the worldâ’s best players will also be competing in men’s and women’s doubles and the stars of the future will be lining up in the men’s and women’s under 21 events.
The qualifications for the ITTF World Tour World Tour Kuwait Open starts today, 16 March 2016, with the main draw starting on 18 March and the finals matches on 20 March 2016.
Chinese superstars MA Long and LIU Shiwen have ended 2015 as the world’s top ranked table tennis players after both having an amazing 2015, which saw them both being crowned the 2015 ITTF Table Tennis Stars in December.
MA Long had the year of his career winning the Qoros World Championships, Liebherr Men’s World Cup and GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals, which made him undoubtedly the best table tennis player on the planet.
2015 marks the sixth anniversary that MA Long first ended the year as world number one back in 2010 and December was the 41st month that the 27-year-old has occupied the top position of the world ranking.
On his achievement, MA Long stated: “I am very happy to end 2015 as the World number one again! I am looking forward to showing even better performances in the 2016 Olympic year.”
Chinese teammates FAN Zhendong and XU Xin finished the year at number two and three respectively, followed by Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV. Olympics champion ZHANG Jike, also from China, is at number five just ahead of Japan’s Jun MIZUTANI.
Japan’s Yuya OSHIMA had the biggest rise in the world ranking in a breakthrough year. At the start of 2015, the now 21-year-old was listed as 71 in the world, moving on 12 months and the rising Japanese superstar is a lofty 18th in the world, and closing in fast on the world’s top 10.
LIU Shiwen managed to overcome her bitterly disappointing loss in the Qoros 2015 World Championships final to DING Ning, to finish the year as the world’s number one women’s table tennis player.
On her way to finishing world number one for the third time in her career, LIU Shiwen won a record equalling fourth Women’s World Cup in a highly successful year for the Chinese player.
World Champion DING Ning finished the year in second position on the back of her victory at the year ending GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals.
Compatriot ZHU Yuling finishes the year in third ahead of Japanese superstar Ai FUKUHARA. China’s CHEN Meng is next in line at number five, above China’s Olympic Champion LI Xiaoxia and Japan’s Kasumi ISHIKAWA.
14-year-old sensation Mima ITO finishes a remarkable year, which saw her crowned as the 2015 ITTF Breakthrough Star as the 12th best table tennis player on earth.
After a short break for the festive season, the world’s best players get back into action at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open, which begins on 20 January 2016 in Budapest, Hungary.
Check out the full year end world rankings here — > ITTF.com/ittf_ranking/
The world’s best table tennis stars have gathered in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon in preparation for the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals which starts today 10 December and runs until 13 December 2015.
Finalists at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour last year in Bangkok, Europe’s top player Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) and Jun MIZUTANI (JPN) are set to an early face-off in the first round of the Men’s Singles event. MIZUTANI claimed the title eventually in Bangkok, but at their latest encounter at the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup, it was OVTCHAROV who prevailed.
“It’s a very hard draw for the both of us,” shared OVTCHAROV after the draw ceremony. “We have played seven times in the last 12 months, of which I won four times, but he has won three out of the four times we played at major international tournaments, so the results is going to be very open.”
The 27-year-old German added “Often the one with the better start wins, but the scores will be very close. I will of course try my very best to win this!”
Local hero Marcos FREITAS (POR) has the toughest draw out of everyone, with the European Championships runner up facing world number one and World Champion MA Long in the first round.
The fans could also expect a matchup between the reigning World Champion DING Ning and newly crowned 2015 Female Table Tennis Star LIU Shiwen in the Women’s Singles event. The duo last played internationally at the epic gold medal match at the 2015 World Championships, where DING overcame her injury in the decider to take her second World Championships title.
The GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour is the year-ending finale to the US$3,000,000 ITTF World Tour, whereby the top 16 singles and 8 doubles pairs qualified through collecting #Race2Lisbon points throughout the 2015 ITTF World Tour.
The GAC 2015 ITTF World Tour is split into three tiers (highest first): Super (6 events), Major (6 events), Challenge (11 events). The higher the series, the more prize money, world ranking points, Race to Lisbon points and higher quality of competition on offer.
2015 World Champion MA Long, and 2015 Women’s World Cup Champion LIU Shiwen are the respective 2015 ITTF Male & Female Table Tennis Stars at the 2015 ITTF Star Awards.
The 2015 ITTF Star Awards was held on 9 December at the Patio da Gala in Lisbon, Portugal, to honor and celebrate the table tennis stars, athletes and coaches, for their achievements in 2015. Eight prestigious awards were given out on star-studded evening in the city’s emblematic landmark.
The two most eyed awards of the year, the Male and Female Table Tennis Stars were determined by the 60,000 public votes from fans all around the world, combined with the judging results from an expert panel consisting of ITTF Athletes’ Commission, the ITTF President, and various international media.
Hot favourite for the night, MA did not disappoint the majority of the fans who voted for him on the ITTFStarAwards.com voting page to claim the 2015 Male Table Tennis Star Awards presented by Seamaster, after becoming the 2015 World Champion and 2015 Men’s World Cup Champion.
After fending off contest from compatriot FAN Zhendong, European Champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, and 2014 World Tour Grand Finals Champion Jun MIZUTANI, the current world number one shared “Thank you for the award and to everyone who has supported me, this award is recognition of my best ever year in 2015. This award means a lot as it’s the first time I have won it and I want to win it again and again. I will continue to work hard and success next year.”
The Female Table Tennis Star Awards presented by Nittaku saw hot contest between DING Ning (CHN), Kasumi ISHIKAWA (CHN), LIU Shiwen (CHN), and Petrissa SOLJA (GER). It was LIU who secured the most votes to take home the prestigious award with her.
The four time Women’s World Cup title holder stated: “It is a great honour to receive this award; my thanks to the ITTF and everyone who has supported me. This award is a very special way to finish 2015 and I hope for even more success in the Olympic year next year.”
The ‘Point of the Century’ played by FANG Bo and MA Long at the Qoros 2015 World Championships Men’s Singles final that generated over 2 million views on YouTube, was also named the 2015 Table Tennis Star Point presented by DHS.
The Male and Female Table Tennis Stars for the Para Table Tennis category went to Indonesia’s Class 9 player David Jacobs and Serbia’s Borislava PERIC-RANKOVIC (Class 3) respectively for their achievements in the 2015 Continental Para Championships and Para events around the world.
With the spectacular results posted by the Chinese team in 2015, the Head Coach LIU Guoliang was the natural winner for the Star Coach of the year presented by Butterfly.
New to the 2015 ITTF Star Awards, a Breakthrough Star award presented by TMS International was given out to Japan’s 15-year-old sensation Mima ITO. ITO was not only the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour event, but also made it to the Japanese Olympic team line up for Rio 2016 Olympic Games at a young age of 14.
In addition, a Fair Play Star award was handed out to Linor CITAKU and Vlona MALOKU from Kosovo for their act of fair play at the Qoros 2015 World Championships. The pair lent their spare rackets to their opponents in the first round of the mixed doubles competition who failed their racket testing, to ensure that the match continued.
The qualified players for the lucrative GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals have been announced after a record-breaking end to the regular World Tour season, which consisted of 22 stops.
The final World Tour event of 2015 was played out in Sweden on the weekend, where the world’s best table tennis players fought it out for the final positions on the standing list at the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals, which will take place on 10-13 December 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Only 16 men and 16 women were able to secure their golden ticket to Lisbon, as well as eight men’s and women’s doubles pairs, and eight men’s and women’s under 21 players.
World Champion and World number one MA Long (CHN) topped the Race to Lisbon standings after another very consistent year on the tour winning two Super Series titles. Japan’s Ai FUKUHARA finished number one on the women’s charts after winning three World Tour titles in 2015.
MA, who won both the 2015 World Championships and the recent 2015 Men’s World Cup stated “Happy to have qualified after missing out last year, and I look forward to capping off a dream year with another big title!”
The pair who battled it out for gold at the end of season Swedish Open men’s singles final, XU Xin (CHN) and FAN Zhendong (CHN) were the next two on the men’s list, just ahead of JUNG Youngsik (KOR) and Maharu YOSHIMURA (JPN) who both had a breakthrough season on the GAC Group 2015 World Tour.
China Open Champion ZHU Yuling (CHN) and 15 year old Japanese sensation Mima ITO followed FUKUHARA on the women’s charts and will be heading to Lisbon looking for World Tour Grand Final glory.
Despite having the second half of her reason ruined by injury and sickness, World Champion DING Ning (CHN) did enough to book her place in Lisbon, as did World number one and World Cup Champion LIU Shiwen (CHN).
The local Portuguese fans will have a player in every event to cheer for in Lisbon. They will be led by World number seven Marcos FREITAS, who had a strong year on the tour to finish seventh on the Race to Lisbon standings and will be looking for glory in front of his home fans.
The US$3,000,000 GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour, consisted of 22 events split into three tiers based on prize money and the quality of the event: Super Series (six events), Major Series (five events) and Challenge Series (11 events).
From these events, players earned Race to Lisbon points to qualify for the prestigious GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals, will be held at the Pavilhão Multiusos De Odivelas Lisbon, Portugal on 10-13 December 2015. To qualify, players had to play in a minimum of five events.
The International Table Tennis Federation is excited to announce the nominees for the 2015 Male & Female Table Tennis Stars to be crowned at the 2015 ITTF Star Awards in Lisbon, Portugal on 9 December 2015.
The 2015 ITTF Star Awards, which will be in its third edition, will be held at the Lisbon’s emblematic city landmark – Patio da Gale, to celebrate the world’s best table tennis players’ achievements in 2015
The nominees in the running for the 2015 Male & Female Table Tennis Star Awards are:
Male Table Tennis Star presented by Seamaster, as nominated by the ITTF Athletes’ Commission:
FAN Zhendong (CHN) – 2015 Asian Champion
MA Long (CHN) – 2015 World Champion & 2015 Men’s World Cup Champion
Jun MIZUTANI (JPN) – GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals Champion
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) – 2015 European Games Champion, 2015 ITTF-European Cup Champion & 2015 ITTF-European Championships Champion
Nomination video: https://youtu.be/khkMkpxmbpU
Female Table Tennis Star presented by Nittaku, as nominated by the ITTF Athletes’ Commission:
DING Ning (CHN) – 2015 World Champion
Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) – GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals Champion
LIU Shiwen (CHN) – 2015 ITTF Women’s World Cup Champion
Petrissa SOLJA (GER) – 2015 ITTF Women’s World Cup bronze medalist
Nomination video: https://youtu.be/jzI2KZufOEg
Upon the nomination, world number one Ma Long shared, “It’s an honor for me to be nominated this year, and I’m glad that my efforts are being seen and recognized by the ITTF. 2015 has been a fruitful year, and I hope to keep up with my good performance this year in the future!”
Fans can now vote for their star player of 2015 athttp://bit.ly/15StarAwardsVoting. Voting will end on 25 November 2015.
Fans’ voting results will be combined with the judging outcome by an expert panel which will include their peers and the media to determine the Table Tennis Stars of 2015!
In addition to the Male and Female Table Tennis Stars, 6 other awards will be handed in Lisbon:
Male Para Table Tennis Star presented by Tinsue
Female Para Table Tennis Star presented by Stag International
Table Tennis Star Coach presented by Butterfly
Table Tennis Star Point presented by DHS
Table Tennis Breakthrough Star presented by TMS International
Table Tennis Fair Play Star
The nominees for these awards will be announced in the coming weeks.
LIU Shiwen has regained the top spot on the ITTF World Rankings after her victories at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Polish Open and ITTF Women’s World Cup in October.
LIU’s 4th success in 4 attempts at the Women’s World Cup has not only put her name on par alongside the legendary ZHANG Yining, but also helped put her back to the no. 1 spot in the world.
The 24 year-old Chinese shared “I’m happy to be back on the number spot. I certainly hope to maintain the current good form I am in now and continue working hard to achieve more!”
LIU has replaced her compatriot, 2015 World Champion DING Ning, who had overtaken her since October, to occupy the top position for a 23rd time. Dislodged from her no. 1 spot, DING now occupies the third spot on the ranking, which is her lowest position in four years, the last time she was third in the World was in September 2011.
Despite her quarterfinal defeat to Netherland’s LI Jiao at the Women’s World Cup, 20 year-old ZHU Yuling has reached her career’s highest, advancing to second in the world, with the help of her success in the doubles event at the Polish Open.
Other star players at the ITTF Women’s World Cup earlier last weekend in Sendai, Japan, also saw ascending of their world rankings in November. Surprise semifinalist after upsetting 2 top 10 players in a row, Germany’s Petrissa Solja saw meteoric climb from no. 26 to no. 14 to reach her career best. Meanwhile, Egypt’s Dina MESHREF climbed to no. 100 after becoming the first African player to ever qualify for the main draw of the Women’s World Cup.
Meanwhile, 2015 World Champion and Men’s World Cup Champion, MA Long continues to dominate the Men’s World Ranking for the 39th time in his career. 18 year old FAN Zhendong overtakes 2015 Mixed Double World Champion XU Xin to finish second in the world after claiming victory at the Polish Open, and taking the 2nd place on his Men’s World Cup debut in Halmstad.
Runner-up at the Polish Open, Austria’s Stefan FEGERL also saw a major jump from no. 42 to no.23 after surprising reigning Olympics Champion ZHANG Jike in the semifinals to prevent an all-Chinese Final.
Check out more on the November ITTF World Rankings on ITTF.com/ITTF_Ranking
LIU Shiwen has became the equal most successful player in ITTF Women’s World Cup history by winning her fourth title in as many attempts at the 2015 ITTF Women’s World Cup, which concluded today 1 November in Sendai, Japan.
The 24 year old added the 2015 title to those that she claimed in 2009, 2012 and 2013, to be equal with the legendary ZHANG Yining with four ITTF World Cup crowns.
The world number two reached this historic feat by defeating the great Japanese hope Kasumi ISHIKAWA 14-12,11-2,11-9,11-2 in the final to silence the capacity crowd at the Xebio Arena.
After lifting the famous cup, Liu stated: “At the vital times, I really had to make sure that I was positive; certainly it is a greater honour to be named alongside ZHANG Yining winning four ITTF Women’s World Cup titles. This victory will hopefully boost my chances of being selected in the Chinese Olympic team for Rio 2016.”
ISHIKAWA was happy with her silver medal, but was disappointed she could not win a dream gold in front of her home crowd: “I led 10-9 in the first game. I had a chance, I missed the chance but Liu Shiwen is a superb player, overall I have to be pleased with my efforts in this tournament.”
The third place play off was between two women that differed in age by 21 years, but both played the tournaments of their lives here in Sendai.
21 year Petrissa SOLJA (GER), who beat world number six FENG Tianwei (SIN) and world number four Ai FUKUHARA (JPN) before her remarkable run, was finally stopped by the eventual winner, LIU Shiwen in the semi final.
42 year old LI Jiao (NED) proved that she was not slowing down with age, as she caused the biggest upset of 2015 by beating the number two seed and Asian champion ZHU Yuling (CHN) in the quarter finals before coming up short against ISHIKAWA in the final four showdown.
SOLJA proved to be too strong in the bronze medal decider, winning 7-11, 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 against the tiring LI to become the first ever German to win an ITTF Women’s World Cup bronze medal.
The world’s best table tennis players now head to GAC Group 2015 World Tour Swedish Open which begins on 11 December. This is the final chance for players to collect priceless Race to Lisbon points to qualify for the prestigious GAC Group 2015 World Tour Grand Finals to be held in Lisbon, Portugal on 10-13 December 2015.
World number five Ai FUKUHARA has stated that she is playing for the tsunami victims from her home town of Sendai at the 2015 ITTF Women’s World Cup, which starts tomorrow 30 October 2015 in Sendai, Japan.
The host city, where FUKUHARA grew up in, was devastated by a tsunami in 2011 which affected over 200 people.
“As a sportsperson, I would live to dedicate my performance here at the Women’s World Cup to everyone who were affected by the devastating tsunami in my beautiful hometown of Sendai,” said FUKUHARA.
“Earlier today, I got to go to a primary school with my Olympic silver medal, which the kids were able to touch and put around their neck. They told me this gave them strength and hope, which made me very happy and proud,”concluded the 27 year old.
Here in Sendai, world number two, LIU Shiwen is aiming for her fourth ITTF Women’s World Cup title, which would equal the all time record.
The 24 year old has already won three Women’s World Cup’s from three attempts and her fourth will bring her World Cup medal count on par with the legendary ZHANG Yining.
“Of course it is my goal to equal the record. I feel some pressure to do it, but I am still young and I have time on my hands. It would be a great honour to equal this record, and I will be doing my best here in Japan to do so.”
The 2015 ITTF Women’s World Cup only consists of 20 of the world’s best players. 19 of the players competing here had to qualify through their respective Continental Cups, which means only the best of the best can compete.
The only other player to receive the golden ticket to play in the 2015 ITTF Women’s World Cup was the 2015 Mixed Doubles World Champion YANG Haeun (KOR), who received the wildcard for the event.
Kicking off the event are seeds nine to 20, playing round robin in four groups of three players (two matches each). The top two players from each group will then progress to the second round of the competition. This first round draw can be found here: http://bit.ly/1kUKOTI.
The second round, which starts on Saturday, is a straight knockout with the eight players who progressed from the first round, facing off against the top eight seeded players. The players play the round-of-16 and quarterfinals on Saturday, with the semifinals and final on Sunday.
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