The long-awaited return to the table for Chinese superstar ZHANG Jike is over today, 23 February, as the London 2012 Olympic Champion returns to action at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar The Qatar Open is the first ITTF World Tour Platinum event of 2017, which is the highest […]
via Zhang Jike Back in Action at ITTF Qatar Open — newfanzoneblog
Chinese superstar ZHANG Jike has withdrawn from the Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals with an ankle injury. The injury is the same one that forced the world number four to pull out from the recent Austrian and Swedish ITTF World Tour events last month. The news has left the London 2012 Olympic […]
via Injured Zhang Jike Withdraws from ITTF World Tour Grand Finals — newfanzoneblog
Top seeds have tumbled out in a dramatic opening round of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Korea Open today in Incheon, Korea with top players ZHANG Jike, Timo BOLL, Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Ai FUKUHARA all being defeated. Olympic champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) was the highest profile causality, losing to CHEN Chien-An (TPE) 4-3 in an […]
via Zhang Jike Knocked out of ITTF World Tour Korea Open — newfanzoneblog
After years of speculation, ZHANG Jike has been given his chance to defend his Olympic title after he was confirmed today to play singles at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The current world number four, who has lost several high profile matches recently will be joined by the world number one and reigning World Champion […]
via Zhang Jike Gets Opportunity to Defend Olympic Table Tennis Title — 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.
The much anticipated draw for the Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships has been concluded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The 24 men’s and women’s Championship Division teams were drawn into four groups of six for the 54th World Team Table Tennis Championships being held on 28 February to 6 March at the Malawati Stadium.
For the defending men’s champions China to get a direct path to the quarter final, they will have to beat the newly crowned European Champions Austria in group A, whom they defeated in 2015 World Team Cup final in Dubai.
Grand slam Champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) shared after the draw “We are old rivals with many of these teamsin ourgroup, they all have their strengths and high level members in their teams. So we have to be well prepared for tough matches in at the World Championships.”
“This is going to be the biggest and most important event before the Olympic Games in Rio, and we will be going all out to do our best for each and every match.”
Number two seeds, and the biggest challenger to China’s dominance, Germany, has been grouped with the 2000 World Team Champions Sweden, and the host country Malaysia in group B.
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), who swept Europe in 2015 to claim all major singles titles, stated “All teams are strong at the WorldChampionships, but we could have gotten stronger teams in the group stage. We have to be perfectly prepared of course, and all of us have to work harduntil the Championships to get inbettershape!”
5th seeded Portugal will be on its way to challenge Japan and the other teams in group C. World number 8 MarcosFRETS commented “It’s a strong group, so it will be hard for Portugal, but our goal is to finish in the first 2 places.”
In the women’s draw, locals Malaysia has drawn a glamour fixture with World Champions China in group A, which will surely pack out the 5,000 capacity stadium.
2015 European Championships winnerElizabeth SAMARA will beleading her team against the strong competition in group A. The 26-year-old Romanian shared “We have a rather homogeneous group where we have strong opponents in every team that we will be playing against.”
London 2012 Olympic Games silver medalists Japan have been drawn into a tough group in group B. The team led by world number four Ai FUKUHARA have European Champions Germany and the runners up from the 2015 World Team Cup, DPR Korea to contend with.
Youngest member of the Japanese team lineup, Mima ITO stated “It’s a very tough draw, but I will do my best to help my team win!”
German Sports Director Richard Prause also commented that “Japan will be the favourite in this group, but we will of course try our best to challenge Japan and get through the group and reach the quarterfinals. It will be very interesting to see how the verypromising young teams like Brazil and Thailand will be competing in this first stage.”
94 men’s teams and 81 women’s teams will make the trip to Kuala Lumpur to compete across four divisions at the World Team Table Tennis Championships.
Latin America has made history in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh, after claiming gold in girl’s teams, girl’s singles, and mixed doubles event at the 2015 ITTF World Cadet Challenge that concluded today, 31 October 2015.
The World Cadet Challenge is the international tournament for world’s best under-15 players to fight for the honour of their continents, and has long been a budding ground for young talents around the world. Many World Champions, such as reigning Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike, and World number one MA Long and DING Ning, all started their debut on the international arena at the World Cadet Challenge.
The Latin American girl’s team, led by top-seeded Adriana DIAZ, claimed their first ever World Cadet Challenge medal after winning 3-1 against a spirited European girl’s team to give them a perfect start to their tournament here in Egypt.
In the Girl’s Singles gold medal match, Bruna TAKAHASHI avenged for her teammate DIAZ’s semifinals loss to Andreea DRAGOMAN, beating DRAGOMAN 4-3 (11-8, 3-11. 12-10, 10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9) in a full-distanced 7-game duel to take home the prestigious title for her and her team.
“I feel so happy with the victory and taking the first singles medal for Latin America. I fought so much for this and I’m glad it all paid off!” shared the Brazilian after her victory. “The match was so hard, and I was really nervous in the decider, but I had to take control, and my coach also told me to have faith, and that I could do well.”
“The Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be happening next year in my country, and we are all very excited about it. Like for the other Brazilian players, I’m also going to practise more and of course fight for the chance to participate for the Olympic Games at home.”
The Boy’s Singles Final was an equally exciting matchup between Asia’s YANG Shuo and Europe’s Truls MOREGARD, with both players pushing each other to their limits in each game. YANG eventually prevailed 4-3 (12-14, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6) to bring home his hard earned title.
Despite losing in the semifinals of the girl’s singles, DIAZ made up for her loss by winning the mixed doubles events with MOREGARD. For her outstanding performance throughout the entire tournament, she was also awarded the title of the “Most Valuable Girl”, a perfect gift for her birthday today.
The International Table Tennis Federation is excited to announce that the Liebherr 2016 Men’s World Cup will be held in Saarbrücken, Germany.
The prestigious event, which only 20 of the world’s best table tennis players qualify for, will be staged in Saarlandhalle between 01 – 03 October 2016.
Saarbrücken will be the third German city and the 12th European city to host the event since the first World Cup in 1980.
Magdeburg was the host in 2010, more recently in 2014, Düsseldorf was the home; notably on both occasions, China’s Zhang Jike, the reigning Olympic champion reached the final.
“We hope for a full house on all three days,” said Michael GEIGER, President of the German Table Tennis Association. “Spectator interest in the region is enormous; the tournament starts on a Saturday and concludes on Monday, the Day of German Unity, a public holiday throughout the country.”
“German table tennis fans can easily visit the three day table tennis festival”, added GEIGER. “It is quite some time ago since we had a top event in this part of the country.”
Klaus BOUILLON, the Saarland Minister of the Interior was equally excited about the city securing the bid for the prestigious world title event: “I look forward to this high profile event at which we will certainly experience high level and exciting matches in the Saarlandhalle; the Saarland will prove worthy host.”
It will be the 16th time that Europe has staged the event since first being the host in 1995 in Nîmes. Furthermore, it will be the 12th consecutive time that Europe has been the home.
The unbroken run started in Liège in 2005; in Saarbrücken the local fans would welcome a repeat of that edition, where German superstar Timo Boll beat the Chinese trio of Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao to win the title!
The 2015 edition, which was held in the Swedish city of Halmstad from 16 – 18 October 2015, saw World number one, Ma Long winning his second consecutive World Title event after the World Championships in May, moving him closer to accomplishing his Grand Slam dream.
World Champion MA Long is aiming to etch his name in table tennis history by winning the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup, which starts tomorrow 16 October in Halmstad, Sweden.
The 27 year old Chinese needs to win the second ITTF world title event of the year, in order to keep his hopes of becoming a table tennis grand slam alive. The table tennis grand slam consists of winning the World Championships, the World Cup and the Olympic Games.
The last man to achieve this was his team mate ZHANG Jike, who complete the feat by becoming the 2011 World Champion, 2011 Men’s World Cup Champion and the 2012 Olympic Champion.
MA who has been struggling with a back injury recently stated: “Of course it is my goal to complete the prestigious grand slam. But right now I am focusing on winning this event after losing a tight final last year to ZHANG (who did not qualify for the event this year). My back is feeling much better and I can’t wait to get started!”
The Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup only consists of 20 of the world’s best players. 17 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 three other players to receive the golden ticket to play in the 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup are the current World Champion MA Long (CHN), one host country representative Kristian KARLSSON (SWE), and 18 year old Anton KALLBERG (SWE) who received a wildcard into 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 progresses to the second round of the competition. This first round draw can be found here: http://bit.ly/1Ms9YiR.
In the first stage, all eyes will be on Jimmy BUTLER (USA), who is returning to the Men’s World Cup for the first time since 1992! The 44 year old came out of his 11-year retirement through injury only last year to get back to the top of international table tennis.
After his final training session before the action begins tomorrow, the American stated: “I am overwhelmed being back. It is amazing to be amongst the world’s elite again. When I started my comeback I did not think this would be possible. I will do my best tomorrow to cause some upsets!”
The second round, which starts on Saturday, is a straight knockout with the eight players that 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.
China has showed us again that they are the dominant force in table tennis by claiming both the men’s and women’s team gold at the Suzuki 2015 ITTF-Asian Table Tennis Championships in Pattaya, Thailand.
In both the finals, China met a young spirited Japanese team, but the reigning World and Asian Champions were too fast and too strong, and defended their titles in style.
The Chinese men’s team was without the world champion and their team captain MA Long who was ruled out with a back injury. This did not stop the powerful Chinese team represented by XU Xin, FAN Zhendong and ZHANG Jike beating Japan. The trio faced off Japanese rising stars, Maharu YOSHIMURA, Koki NIWA, and Yuya OSHIMA, and eventually prevailed 3-0 to win their ninth consecutive Asian Championships team gold.
After the victory, XU who gave the Chinese team the initial lead in the final by beating YOSHIMURA 3-0 stated: “The Japanese are no strangers to us, so we came well prepared. I think it’s the mental strength that aided the victory, it’s important to put world rankings and past results aside and fight for every point!”
Reigning Olympics Champion ZHANG Jike, who dropped his match in the semifinals against Korea’s JANG Woojin, recovered tonight to beat OSHIMA 3-1 to claim China’s victory. After his match, the 27 year old shared: “I have not been in good shape lately. Even though I won the match against OSHIMA eventually, my overall performance is still not satisfactory (losing the second game 1-11).”
The Chinese team, led by singles World Champion and world number one DING Ning, played without world number two LIU Shiwen, who missed the entire teams event through illness. However the depth of the Chinese team is so strong that even without LIU, they fielded world number three ZHU Yuling and world number eight CHEN Meng who have both won World Tour titles in 2015.
The Chinese team proved too good for the young Japanese team of Ai FUKUHARA and the 14 year old duo of Mima ITO and Miu HIRANO, winning 3-0 to claim their fifth consecutive title.
DING Ning who was playing the past few days with the flu stated after receiving her gold medal: “We are very happy that our efforts paid off to win the gold medal against Japan despite the difficulties we faced along the way (meaning her and LIU Shiwen’s illness).”
“The Japanese lineup is also very young and strong. They are only going to get stronger and become great rivals for China.”
The 2015 ITTF-Asian Table Tennis Championships continues tomorrow, with there being still five titles (men’s & women’s singles, men’s & women’s doubles, and mixed doubles) up for grabs before the event finishes on 3 October 2015.
Asia’s top table tennis players have gathered in Pattaya, Thailand for their quest for gold at the Suzuki 2015 ITTF-Asian Championships, which starts from today, 26 September, till 3 October 2015.
The eight-days biennial event will have seven gold medals on offer: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s team, women’s team, men’s double, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Currently the most successful men’s singles player in Asian Championships history with 3 victories, China’s MA Long will be on full power to fight for his unprecedented fourth consecutive win.
The newly crowned 2015 World Champion stated “2015 has been a good year for me so far and I hope this will continue and win me another title in Thailand this time round. It won’t be easy with all the top players from Asia here, but I will definitely be giving in my 100%!”
It will be no easy task for MA as his compatriot, reigning Olympics Champion ZHANG Jike, will be equally eager to pocket his first Asian Championships singles title in Pattaya to add on to his elaborated collection of trophies.
Korea’s JUNG Youngsik as well as Japan’s Maharu YOSHIMURA who both have had a successful run in the 2015 ITTF World Tour, will be seeking to continue their strong form to eye for the crown as well.
In the Women’s singles, defending champion LIU Shiwen (CHN) will be looking to avenge her 2015 World Championships loss against top seeded DING Ning. DING was able to beat LIU in an epic final battle despite badly injuring her ankle in the 7th game of the Women’s Singles gold medal match.
Singapore’s FENG Tianwei who defeated LIU and her teammate ZHU Yuling at the ITTF-Asian Cup in India earlier this year, will hope to repeat her success to take the crown.
Ai FUKUHARA and Mima ITO will carry on Japan’s dream for gold after their top player Kasumi ISHIKAWA withdrew from the tournament yesterday with a leg injury. Both players are in their career best form to aim for gold in Pattaya, with FUKUHARA winning 3 titles on the 2015 ITTF World Tour, and ITO posing great threats to the Chinese at the 2015 World Championships in Suzhou.
A repeat of the epic 2014 Men’s World Cup Final clash between MA Long and ZHANG Jike will not be possible at the GAC Group 2015 World Tour China Open, as they have been drawn in the same half.
Despite this, fans in Chengdu, China will be treated to one of the strongest World Tour tournaments in recent history, with nine out of the top ten men, and eight out of the top ten women all competing in the sixth and final Super Series event of the year.
Qualifications for the main draw starts today, 5 August 2015, with players battling to join the world’s best players in the main draw, which starts Friday, 7 August, with the medals being handed out on Sunday, 9 August!
If current World Champion MA Long, is to win a record fourth China Open title in a row and sixth overall, he will have to overcome players he has had tough battles with in the past. The world number one is due to play FANG Bo, whom he defeated earlier in the year in the World Championships final, and face his archrival ZHANG Jike in the semi final.
“I always enjoy playing in front of my home fans.” stated MA.”It would mean a lot to me to win my sixth China Open title. It won’t be easy as the world’s best players are here, but I will try my best to be the champion!”
It won’t be just these players threatening MA Long’s quest for a 20th World Tour title. Top stars such as XU Xin, FAN Zhendong, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, Timo BOLL and Marcos FREITAS will also have their eye on securing the prestigious China Open title.
Anticipation is high for the women’s event as well, as a rematch of one of the most dramatic World Championships finals in history between DING Ning and LIU Shiwen is on the cards on Sunday.
After the draw, the world number one stated: “I know everyone is looking forward to watching me play LIU Shiwen again. However, this competition is very strong, with many top players, so I will have to play well just to get to the final, as will LIU.”
As stated by DING, the field here in Chengdu is very strong, with ZHU Yuling, CHEN Meng, FENG Tianwei, Ai FUKUHARA, Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Mima ITO all looking to make sure that a repeat of the 2015 World Championships final does not come to fruition.
14th stop of the US$3,000,000 GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour, the China Open is also the sixth and final Super Series event of the year, 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).
All players will be pushing for Race to Lisbon points in a bid to qualify for the World Tour Grand Finals. The top 16 singles and top eight 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 2015.
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
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