2019 World Table Tennis Championships Bidding Opens

The bidding process for the world’s biggest table tennis event, the World Table Tennis Championships is now opened for 2019.

The 2019 edition will be the individual championships, with the men’s & women’s singles, men’s & women’s doubles and mixed doubles world champions being crowned.

The World Championships promises the world’s best table tennis players on show, from over 100 countries in one of the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Funke Oshonaike. QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN photo credit ITTF Media

On the bid opening, ITTF’s CEO Judit FARAGO stated: “We look forward and expect strong interest from national associations and cities to host our showcase event. After successful world championships in recent years, we believe that stakeholders are aware of the benefits the organisation of the event could bring them. There is always big media attention on who is crowned as world champion, but it is even more attractive in the year before the Olympic Games, the winner in 2019 will be surely considered as favourite in 2020 in Tokyo.”

The World Table Tennis Championships is the ITTF’s most valuable event, with over 450 million people following the 2015 championships. This included 330 million watching the event live on TV in 170 countries.

In addition to the extraordinary media values the event offers, the World Championships also provides substantial economic benefits for the host city. The 2015 event brought Suzhou, China US$156 million of revenue as a result of hosting the event.

Bidding for the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships, which will be the 55th edition, dating back to 1926 closes on 31 October 2015 and allocation of the event will take place at the 2016 ITTF Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Download more information here:http://bit.ly/1MhxReb.

ITTF opens up the bidding process for the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships

To get a better idea of the benefits of hosting the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships, check out the figures from the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships:

* Countries that broadcasted the event live on TV: 170
* CCTV viewers: 252 million
* World wide TV viewers: 330 million
* ITTF.com unique visitors over 8 days: 10 million
* itTV unique viewers over 8 days (live and on demand) : 1 million
* 440 matches on itTV
* Countries that watched itTV: 179
* People who saw content on ITTF’s Facebook: 3 million
* YouTube views: 7 million
* Countries that watched content on YouTube: 231
* Minutes watched on YouTube: 25 million
* Accredited media: 1,000
* Media articles: 11,000
* The upcoming World Championships already allocated are:

2016 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2017 – Dusseldorf, Germany
2018 – Halmstad, Sweden

ITTF & IOC Presidents Meet to Discuss Additional Olympic Table Tennis Gold

Prior to the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, ITTF’s President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT met the International Olympic Committee’s President Dr. Thomas BACH in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This was the first official meeting between the two Presidents since Mr WEIKERT stepped into office in September 2014.

The main topics of conversation between the two German officials were:

Agenda 2020;
ITTF’s Development Program, which has now made it the largest International Federation with 222 National Association members;

How the IOC and the ITTF can work closer together to achieve common goals.
The two Presidents also discussed the possibility of table tennis having mixed doubles or mixed teams as fifth event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in addition to the current lineup of men’s & women’s singles and men’s & women’s teams events.

On this proposal, ITTF’s President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “We have tried in the past to get the mixed doubles or mixed teams in the table tennis Olympic program. My conversations with President BACH were positive, so we hope that we will have a fifth table tennis gold medal added by Tokyo 2020.”

ITTF Reaches 1,000,000 Social Media Fans

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has become only the third International Federation to hit 1,000,000 social media fans.

The historic mark was reached during the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, which had an unprecedented following and engagement on social media.

In addition to the one million landmark, the ITTF is also celebrating reaching 200,000 Facebook fans and 55 million YouTube views, which portrays the increasing global popularity of table tennis.

The success of ITTF’s social media is on the back of the strength in numbers in China, where ITTF’s numbers are the highest of any international federation.

The one million social media fans is made up of all the social media platforms that the ITTF is active on:

ITTF Reaches 1,000,000 Social Media Fans

Sina Weibo (http://www.weibo.com/ITTFWorld) – 597,000
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ITTFWorld- 200,000
Tencent Weibo (http://e.t.qq.com/ITTFWorld) – 94,000
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/ittfchannel) – 90,000 subscribers 55,000,000 views
Twitter (https://twitter.com/ITTFWorld) – 15,000
Instagram (@ITTFWorld) – 13,500
WeChat (@ITTFWorld2014) – 6,000

Next stop is 2 million fans!

Table Tennis Comes Together to Support Nepal

Following the terrible earthquake in Nepal last week, a ceremony was staged during the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, to show table tennis’s support to the Nepal Table Tennis Team.

Support was provided from various sources including the ITTF Athletes’ Commission, Continental Federation Presidents, National Associations as well as the United Nations Sport for Development and Peace, and the International Table Tennis Federation.

The main theme of the ceremony was players supporting players.

“We can only imagine how difficult it is, of course, to the team and also to their country”  , said Vladimir SAMSONOV, Chair of the ITTF Athletes’ Commission. He organized signed shirts from the world’s leading players to be donated to Nepal and received an offer from Belgium’s Jean-Michel SAIVE to conduct a coaching session.

“We are with them in their grief”, added Vladimir SAMSONOV. “You can still feel the sadness in here.

The table tennis world coming together to help Nepal.

Thomas WEIKERT, ITTF President, having already sought out the Nepalese earlier in the week, again expressed the condolences of the entire ITTF family, and stated his commitment to personally join them for the opening of the UNOSDP Project in November this year.

Additionally, the Presidents of all six Continental Federations – CAI Zhenhua (Asia), Khaled EL-SALHY (Africa), Ronald KRAMER (Europe), Juan VILA (Latin America), Tony KIESENHOFER (North America), and James MORRIS (Oceania) – agreed to donate a combined sum of US$ 10,000 to help with relief of Nepalese players and their families.

The International Table Tennis Federation and UNOSDP are to launch in the November a three year project worth over US$ 100,000 for the development of para table tennis in Nepal.

Young Sam MA, Co-chair of the UN International Working Group on People with Disabilities, himself an International Umpire, umpiring here in Suzhou was there to announce the support.

“We feel deeply sorry for the tragedy in Nepal; I was in Kathmandu last December to prepare a the project,” said Leandro OLVECH, the ITTF Development Director. “What we do today is just a small gesture to show that we’re with them; not only today, but also in the next three years by running a long term project.”

“The heart of the table tennis family is with the Nepalese inhabitants”, added Leandro OLVECH. “We give a small gesture and we will see what happens; we pray there are not so many deaths and everything will be fine; I’ve spoke to the coach and some table tennis players, thankfully, no one in their family was hurt.

“I would like to thank everyone from my heart, it’s almost like a dream to get some gifts and support from former champions and ITTF members”, said Shrestha NABITA, aged 23, a Nepalese female player. “It’s great that we can meet like this; you are taking care of our country, there is humanity in the International Table Tennis Federation.”

Notably, leading players from China, Germany, Korea, Japan, Sweden, Austria, Nigeria and Peru attended the ceremony as did ITTF Executive Committee members, SHI Zhihao, Masahiro MAEHARA and Petra SORLING,

China’s WANG Liqin, three times Men’s Singles World champion, and the Chinese Table Tennis Association were all on hand to present signed national team shirts from many past and present world champions, while representing Korea, Yang HAEUN, recently crowned World Mixed Doubles Champion was personally present to provide a signed training shirt to the Nepalese team.

Many other players also showed solidarity with the Nepalese including the Slovak Republic’s Para player Alena KANOVA, and Germany’s Petrissa SOLJA.

Check out the photos of the handover here: http://bit.ly/1zA8iDv.

Ma Long is the 2015 Men’s World Table Tennis Champion!

The 53rd World Championships concluded at the Suzhou International Expo Centre tonight, with the remaining two titles, Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles World titles being decided.

World number one MA Long (CHN) became the Men’s World Champion for the first time, in front of the capacity crowd in Suzhou.

With this being his fourth time participation at world championships, MA played his first World Championships Men’s Singles gold medal stage tonight in Suzhou. His best result at past world championships was in the semifinals, where he met the now retired WANG Hao (CHN) on all three occasions.

The 26 year old faced compatriot FANG Bo who eliminated hot favorites XU Xin (CHN) as well as two-time defending and Olympic champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) en route to the finals.

Determined to get hold of the St. Bride Vase, MA was all fired up to dominate the court in front of the home crowd. Despite all of FANG’s efforts to turn the situation in his favour, MA won 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-13, 11-4) to claim the title that has eluded the world number one all these years.

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

“It is like a dream come true. Having losing in the semifinals at the three world championships previously, honestly I have a lot of pressure to earn this title. At the end of the day I think these was worth it.” shared the newly crowned champion.

In the other gold medal match of the night, DING Ning (CHN), who reclaimed her Women’s Singles title last night in the most dramatic fashion, put up a good fight with partner LI Xiaoxia (CHN) in the Women’s Doubles gold medal match.

Facing teammates LIU Shiwen and ZHU Yuling, DING/LI pulled off amazing rallies during the match to take the lead early in the match despite DING having difficulty moving around with her sprained ankle. LIU/ZHU, equally determined to take home the title, trailed closely behind in the match.

LIU/ZHU eventually prevailed 4-3 (8-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-8) to emerge victorious to claim the title. This defeat means that DING Ning has now played four Women’s Doubles finals in a row and have lost them all!

LIU who lost her women’s singles title against DING the night before, expressed “I was very upset after the loss last night. While I know I only have to accept it. I’d like to thank my coach, teammates and friends for their support.”

The 24 year old added “Since I had doubles to play today, I knew I had to be mentally tough. I cherish this match because I’ve never won the championship in single’s event before and I knew I had to give it my best effort tonight.”

Other than the two World Championship titles that was won, Japan’s 14 year old sensation Mima ITO won the Qoros Newcomer award for her outstanding performance at the Qoros 2015 World Championships. She battled her way to the quarterfinals on her debut here in Suzhou.

XU Xin and ZHANG Jike, Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships photo credit ITTF Media

Gold Medalists at the Qoros 2015 World Championships:

Men’s Singles: MA Long (CHN)
Women’s Singles: DING Ning (CHN)
Men’s Doubles: ZHANG Jike / XU Xin (CHN)
Women’s Doubles: LIU Shiwen / ZHU Yuling (CHN)
Mixed Doubles: XU Xin (CHN) / YANG Haeun (KOR)

#ITTFWorlds2015 Statistics:

Total unique viewership on CCTV yesterday (2 May 2015): 99,027,000 which is the 6th highest rating sports show on CCTV in 2015

Total viewership between 27 April – 2 May: 223,332,000

Total unique people have seen content on ITTF’s facebook page between 26 April – 2 May: 2,373,752

Total unique people who have visited ITTF’s website between 26 April – 2 May: 8,560,318

With the perfect closing of the Qoros 2015 World Team Table Tennis Championships, the 54th edition of the World Championships will be staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 201

DING Claims Second Women’s Singles Gold In Dramatic Fashion Despite Injury

China’s DING Ning pulled off the most dramatic victories in table tennis history to become the women’s singles world champion.

DING collapsed on the floor when the score was 0-2 in the 7th game, and everyone feared that her title challenge was over. DING managed to get back to her feet and fight back to record a famous victory.

Ding Ning (CHN) QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships Winner. photo credit ITTF Media

She eventually played a brilliantly strategized game to come back to win the decider 11-8 to reclaim her crown. DING first claimed her world championship title at the 2011 World Championships in Rotterdam.

The 24 year old who managed to make her comeback from 0-1 down to lead 3-1 against her compatriot LIU Shiwen, injured her ankle at the beginning of the 7th game. After taking her medical timeout, she decided to continue with the match even though she could barely walk.

The severity of the injury was shown, as DING was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. The latest reports show that there is no break and she is going to be ok, but she is in major doubt for tomorrow’s women’s doubles semi final.

DING is due to play in the Women’s Doubles event with grand slam winner LI Xiaoxia (CHN), expressed after victory, “I will need to have my injury examined to decide if I will be playing in the Women’s Doubles semifinals tomorrow morning.”

Ding Ning (CHN) QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships Winner. photo credit ITTF Media

After the dramatic finals match, DING shared “It was like a dream to me to have won this title, it especially felt so in the last game when I sprained my ankle when I was 0-2 points down.”

“The turning point was really at the second game when I was trailing 2 points behind at 8-10, but I managed to save both game points and eventually took that game 15-13. I believe the momentum of the game changed at that point of time.”

China & Korea Join Forces to Become Mixed Doubles World Champions

China’s XU Xin and Korea’s YANG Haeun are the newly crowned mixed doubles champions at the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, making them the first international mixed doubles pair to be crowned since 1966.

Even though this was their first partnership, the dynamic duo was able to work well together to defeat Japanese pairing of Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA 4-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4, 11-6) to claim the title.

After the historic victory, XU who was knocked out from the Men’s Singles event by his colleague FANG Bo after sustaining a shoulder injury, shared that “the injury definitely have affected my play. I am glad that our partnership worked out well despite my injury. I am neither a hero, nor a warrior, but I made sure that I give my best. As long as that is the case, I think the outcome matters less compared to the process and efforts.

“This victory is a result of the combined efforts by me and my partner, her performance has been very stable since our first match here in Suzhou, and she has improved a lot to help us win against the Japanese in the finals,” the world number two added.

China’s XU Xin and Korea’s YANG Haeun kissing the Heydusek Cup

Delighted about her first ever World Championship title, YANG expressed that “I am really excited that we could win the title. It’s definitely an invaluable experience for me, and have learnt a lot from this partnership with XU Xin, not just in techniques, but also in terms of mental strength.”

Despite losing to the Chinese/Korean pair, it was still a historic moment for the Japanese team, being the first mixed doubles finalists from the land of the rising sun since 1977.

In the Women’s Singles, 14 year old Mima ITO (JPN) had the tournament of her career, making it to the Quarterfinals on her debut world championships.

After overcoming Ukraine’s Tetyana BILENKO 4-1, she played her best match in Suzhou to challenge the Chinese supremacy, taking 2 games off grand slam winner LI Xiaoxia. The match went in favour of the defending champion eventually, as LI made an amazing comeback from 0-2 to win 4-2 (9-11, 14-16, 11-2, 13-11, 11-2) to join her other three Chinese team mates DING Ning, LIU Shiwen and MU Zi, who became the first player in the modern era to make the semi finals from qualification.

More action at the World Championships resume tomorrow with the gold medal matches for the Women’s Singles and Men’s Doubles taking place here in Suzhou.

Japan Makes 1st World Championships Mixed Double Final Since 1977

The fifth day of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships concluded with the Japanese mixed doubles duo Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA becomingJapan’s first mixed doubles finalists since 1977.

The Japanese pair ended the defending championsKIM Jong and KIM Hyok Bong from North Korea to becomehopes of defending their title they won two years ago in Paris 4-2 (11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4) to guarantee at least a silver medal for Japan in Suzhou.

ISHIKAWA and YOSHIMURA will face mixed nations pair XU Xin (CHN) and YANG Haeun (KOR) tomorrow night in the final battle for the title.

The victory boosted the Japanese team spirit after suffering two days of upsets and defeats since the commencement of the main draws, a confident ISHIKAWA shared: “Our goal is to perform our own ability, and we have confidence to play in our own level.”

While being successful in the mixed doubles event, number five seed ISHIKAWA fell in the hands of the unseeded MU Zi from the host country, being outclassed 0-4 (7-11, 10-12, 10-12, 4-11) in the round of 32.

Team Japan embrase after making the mixed doubles final. Photo credit: Remy Gros

ISHIKAWA was not the only defeat suffered by the Japanese team, her colleagues in the men’s doubles, Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA, joined her on the Japanese casualty list of the day.

MORIZONO and OSHIMA came so close to the biggest upset in Suzhou against the tournament hot favorites, XU Xin and ZHANG Jike (CHN). Despite having two match points, ZHANG & XU were too good in the end winning 4-3 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10) to advance to the semifinals of the Men’s Doubles event.

Jun MIZUTANI (JPN), on the other hand, narrowly escape elimination scares from JUNG Youngsik (KOR), to keep the Japanese singles dream alive in Suzhou. The pair engaged in an epic 7-games thriller, with MIZUTANI claiming victory 4-3 (4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9, 13-11).

In the other Men’s Singles round of 32 matches, Patrick FRANZISKA (GER) and Timo BOLL (GER) faced Portugal’s Marcos FREITAS and Joao MONTEIRO respectively to spark off an all-European battle.

56th in the world, FRANZISKA pulled off an amazing performance to upset FREITAS, a player he has never won a game against before 4-1 (13-11, 11-7, 12-10, 5-11, 11-6) to continue his quest for gold.

BOLL however faced tough challenge from FREITAS’s teammate MONTEIRO on his way to the round of 16. The 7th ranked German was pushed into a full-length battle against MONTEIRO. The 34 year old eventually won 4-3 (11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10).

Tomorrow sees the round of 16 of the men’s and women’s singles and the mixed doubles final.

ITTF & ATTU Sign Affiliation Agreement

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) today signed an affiliation agreement to bring the ATTU under the ITTF’s umbrella.

The historic affiliation was signed during the ITTF Board of Directors meeting, which was held during the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou, China.

Following the signing, ITTF’s President Mr Thomas WEIKERT stated: “With this morning’s signing with the Asian Table Tennis Union at the ITTF Board of Director’s Meeting, I believe this will signal a new era of co-operation not only between ITTF and ATTU, but also personally between Mr CAI Zhenhua and myself, and I look forward to working closely with both ATTU and Mr CAI for the development of table tennis worldwide.”

Recently, the ITTF created a new structure to formally recognize the Continental Federations within it’s structure, which allows for greater co-operation in all areas, particularly in marketing and development for the benefit of global table tennis.

ITTF’s President Thomas WEIKERT & ATTU President Mr CAI after the historic agreement.

Other decisions from the Board of Director meeting were:

*From 1 October 2016 (after Olympics and Paralympics) coaches will have the opportunity to coach between points. Germany tested this at their league matches with positive results and proposed it to the BOD. After some detailed debate was passed.

*Currently players under 15 changing nationalities must wait 3 years to represent their new country. In a proposal by the Swiss Federation, to be in line with current people movement and migration, this was reduced to one year as long as they have not represented the previous country. This was passed unanimously in a spirit of support for our youth.

*Currently if a player-pair and coach disagree on a timeout the player has precedence in individual events and the coach in team events. ITTF Rules Committee proposed that the player has precedence in all situations, however surprisingly the Athletes Commission spoke against the motion and so the meeting supported the athletes and also voted against.

Ovtcharov & Fukuhara Crash Out Of ITTF World Table Tennis Championships

The fourth day of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships ended, in dramatic fashion, with two of the biggest names of in table tennis crashing out of the competition in the second round.

World ranked six, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), one of the favourites for the title suffered a surprise 3-4 (11-6,11-9,4-11,8-11,11-6,3-11,11-6) defeat against the number 36th seed LEE Sangsu (KOR), bidding goodbye to his World Championship title.

MARCOS FREITAS, 2015 ITTF World Championships. photo credit ITTF Media

After his loss, OVTCHAROV, who beat the World and Olympic champion ZHANG Jike at the 2014 World Team Championships was devastated after the lost: “Of course I am extremely disappointed, I prepared every second for this event and to be knocked out in the second round is disappointing for me. He surprised me today to be so fast and aggressive from the very beginning. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was most surprised by his level. It was tough for me to get the flow and come back after trailing behind 0-2, 2-3 in the match.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, LEE was celebrating his best ever win: “I believed. I believed. I believed I could win. So happy that I did to record the biggest win of my career against one the best players in the world.”

In the Women’s Singles event, number eight seeded Japanese Superstar Ai FUKUHARA became the biggest casualty after losing to Tetyana BILENKO (UKR), 55 positions after her on the ITTF World Rankings.

FUKUHARA was unable to keep up to the momentum of her opponent, losing 2-4 (11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 10-12) to the 31 year old Ukrainian.

“I am sad about my overall performance, I should have been more aggressive. I lost points and became a little bit passive with my tactics. I can’t believe my singles event is over so quickly” shared FUKUHARA after her match.

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, 2015 ITTF World Championships, photo credit ITTF Media

The 26 year old Japanese was not the only loss suffered by the Japanese team. Sayaka HIRANO who part of the Japanese team that won the silver meal at the London 2012 Olympics with FUKUHARA, was shocked by unseeded qualifier Hana MATELOVA from Czech Republic.

In the mixed doubles’ quarterfinals, defending champions KIM Hyok Bong and KIM Jong from North Korea overcame the Chinese pairing of WU Yang and YAN An in a thrilling 7 set encounter 5-11,11-8,11-8,4-11,11-6,7-11,11-7. The number one seeds now face the Japanese due of Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA, who were also successful in their quarter final clash.

More excitement can be expected tomorrow in Suzhou, with the quarterfinals of the doubles events getting underway and more singles action.

Toriola, Quadri Bow Out In First Round, As Tie Against World Champion Excites Oshonaike

Despite the exit of Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri in the first round of the men’s singles at the ongoing ITTF World Championship, Olufunke Oshonaike has described the experience in China as the best by a Nigerian team in an individual world championships.

Toriola in his usual style fought well against Chinese’s Sheng-Sheng Huang recovering from 3-0 down to level up at 3-3 and finally surrendering the seventh game to bow out gallantly from the tournament.

But the biggest shock for Nigeria was the early exit of ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri who was beaten 4-1 by India’s Soumyajit Ghosh in the first round of the men’s singles.

The defeat to Quadri could not even be comprehended by the Nigerian who blamed his loss to ill-luck against the Indian.

But the Indian knew the importance of the win saying that “I am happy beating Aruna in a big stage like the world championships.”

Even as Oshonaike marked her birthday on Tuesday, she probally enjoyed herself in China despite losing 4-0 to world number, China’s Ning Ding.

Funke Oshonaike vs Ning Ding
QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,

Oshonaike described the encounter as the best moment in her career especially playing against the world number one. “I think I just had fun during the match and for me I am not too happy that I was drawn against Ning but it is indeed a rare privilege to play a player of her status. I am fulfilled with my performance in China because I made the first round for the first time since I have been taking part in the world championship,” she said.

Also the partnership between Oshonaike and Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou proved worthy as they bundled out Africa’s women’s doubles champion, Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawatly 4-1 in the first round of the women’s doubles event.

It is indeed a United States of Africa in Suzhou, China.

Main Draw About To Begin At ITTF World Championships

The qualification rounds of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships concluded today, 27 April, to finalise all 128 positions in the main draws for the Men’s and Women’s Singles as well as the Men’s and Women’s Doubles events.

The only unseeded player from the Chinese team, MU Zi, cruised pass the both days of qualifications without dropping a single game, to join the rest of her teammates in the main draw in front of her home crowd.

Funke Oshonaike. QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN photo credit ITTF Media

Nigeria’s Olufunke OSHONAIKE had the crowd on their feet with her amazing performances which saw her advance to the Women’s Singles main draw. As a reward the Nigerian mother of two will play against top seeded DING Ning (CHN) tomorrow morning in the first round of the main draw.

ZHANG Jike (CHN) will start his quest to win his third World Championships title in a row against Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU and Li Xiaoxia starts her title defense against HWANG Jina (KOR).

The first round of the mixed doubles event already got underway today as well in the evening, with capacity crowd cheering on the players in the action packed hall.

The host nation’s mixed doubles pair of WU Yang / YAN An survived an elimination scare when 68th seeded Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (LTU) & Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC (SRB) came back from 0-2 down to tie at 3-3, and trailing tightly behind. WU / YAN eventually escaped narrowly to make it to the next round.

KARAKASEVIC was understandably disappointed to come so close to the biggest upset of the event so far: “At 4-4 and 5-5 in the seventh game, if we could have gained a lead then I think they would have been afraid but we didn’t and that’s sport; at the moment I’m really disappointed, I think this was our big chance to win a medal at the World Championships!”

More action will begin tomorrow morning with ALL 8 tables streaming LIVE on ITTF.com/itTV and broadcast in 169 countries around the world. Live scoring can also be followed on the go at ITTF.com/Mobile!