World Cadet Challenge Heads To Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

The Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh has been confirmed as the host for the 13th World Cadet Challenge from 23 – 31 October 2015.

This marks the second time an African country has hosted the prestigious event since its inauguration in the Hungarian city of Tiszaujvaros in 2002, where reigning Olympics Champion ZHANG Jike won the Boy’s Singles title on his debut.

Upon the announcement, ITTF Deputy CEO Glenn TEPPER stated “The World Cadet Challenge has long been a favourite due to the unique combination of development, education and competition aspects. The event has now been confirmed in Sham El-Sheikh, one of the world’s leading tourist destinations.”

“Egypt has an excellent history of organizing great events, and finally returning to Africa after they last hosted in 2007 in South Africa is a great bonus, and we look forward to an excellent event,” added Mr. Tepper.

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Alaa MESHREF, President of the Egypt Table Tennis Federation, and Khaled EL-SALHY, President of ITTF-Africa, the tournament now returns to Africa.

The 2015 edition will consist of a three day training camp from 23-25 October, Team event from 26-27 October, following by a cultural day (28 Oct) and Singles event on 29-31 October.

Who will be the next Olympic Champion to come from the World Cadet Challenge after Zhang Jike?

As an important component of the World Cadet Challenge, the training camp allows teams to train at least once every other team, as well as hold educational sessions for coaches each evening. Attending coaches are also empowered to take on an active role in the training camp headed by World Doubles and World Team Gold Medalist, Peter KARLSSON (SWE).

Mr. Karlsson already works closely with the ITTF in the “Close to Karlsson” project as part of the ITTF’s “With the Future in Mind” scholarship program, and his inspirational style of coaching is sure to motivate a new generation of champions.

There will be eight teams vying for gold at the World Cadet Challenge in Sharm El-Sheikh: one team from each of the six continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, Oceania), a Hopes team (comprised of the best young talent around the world), and Egypt as the Host team, with 4 boys and 4 girls in each team.

Mr. Tepper shared, “There’s a maximum of one player per country in the continental teams event, so teams must learn to co-operate together while learning each other’s culture and language, creating a great life learning experience in addition to the obvious table tennis benefits.”

Who will be the next Olympic Champion to come from the World Cadet Challenge?

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

Xu & Zhang Strike Men’s Doubles Gold At World Table Tennis Championships

China’s XU Xin and ZHANG Jike are the new Men’s Doubles World Champions, after being victorious at the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou, China.

XU added the gold to his Mixed Doubles title last night with his Korean partner YANG Haeun to become the first international mixed doubles champions since 1954.

XU and ZHANG overcame teammates FAN Zhendong and ZHOU Yu 4-2 (12-14, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9) in an eagerly anticipated final match at the Suzhou International Expo Centre.

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

On their route to gold, the dynamic duo took down highly profiled international pairing of Timo BOLL (GER) and MA Long (CHN), and Japan’s Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA among other strong contenders for the crown.

After the thrilling final match, ZHANG stated “I am very happy to win my first ever doubles title at the World Championships. The support from the media and cheers from the fans in the venue definitely was a huge motivation behind the win.”

XU added “Very honored to be able to win both doubles medals, but honestly it feels a little incomplete for me having knocked out early in the Men’s Singles event.”

In the Men’s Singles semifinals, 18 year old FAN Zhendong (CHN) pulled off an amazing match against former World number Timo BOLL (GER) on their first face-off on the international table tennis arena. The 2014 Youth Olympic Games champion beat the 34 year old German 4-2 (12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 13-15, 11-7).

Meanwhile, FAN’s teammate FANG Bo knocked out Germany’s Patrick FRANZISKA 4-1 to set up another all-Chinese semifinals in Suzhou. FAN will play against world number one MA Long, while FANG will face grand slam champion and two time world champion ZHANG Jike tomorrow in the semifinal stage of the Men’s Singles event.

Read all about DING Ning’s (CHN) famous victory in the women’s singles final earlier in the day: http://bit.ly/1KCV228.

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

The Qoros 2015 World Championships is well on track to be the most followed table tennis event of all time.

Over the first five days of competition that started on 26 April, not only was the sessions well attended by spectators flooding into Suzhou from all around the globe, total unique viewership in China alone achieved a record 185,727,000 audiences as reported by CCTV. The historic mixed doubles match won by Chinese/Korean pair XU Xin and YANG Haeun, recorded the maximum unique viewership of 81,770,000 in the host country.

With unprecedented level of efforts on the social media promotion, the 2015 World Championships have also achieved Facebook impressions of 7,730,000, and resulted in over 823,302,000 hits on ITTF.com over the six days of event.

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.

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!

Official Draw Gets Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships Underway

The countdown is finally over, the eagerly anticipated Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships begins tomorrow 26 April 2015 in Suzhou, China.

The event got officially underway with a spectacular opening ceremony and draws for all the five events: Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.

The draw now has everyone talking about a possibility of a repeat of the epic clash at the London 2012 Olympic in the Women’s Singles, with China’s world number 1 DING Ning and her compatriot, reigning World and Olympic champion, LI Xiaoxia, both getting drawn on different sides.

LI, who won the Olympics clash in a seven-games thriller to add on to her grand slam collection, stated “My health condition probably isn’t quite good compared to other players. Right now I’m undergoing a positive recovery. After all, I’m strong enough to take the championship. I tend to pay more attention to my health condition as oppose to other things right now.”

Japan’s table tennis prodigy who won her first World Tour Super Series title in Germany earlier last month, Mima ITO is expected to face her compatriot Ai FUKUHARA at the Round of 16 on her debut here in Suzhou. ITO will be the same age as when FUKUHARA debuted in 2003 – 14 years old.

Similarly in the Men’s Singles, fans are expected to witness another tough battle between Grand slam champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) and his team captain, World number one MA Long. ZHANG will be striving for his third consecutive world championships title, while MA aiming to claim his first here in Suzhou.

China’s Ma Long does his draw for the Men’s Singles main draw, credit ITTFMedia

The pair last met at a world title event, the LIEBHERR 2014 Men’s World Cup where ZHANG was successful in collecting his second title en route to his second career grand slam dream.

During the pre match press conference, ZHANG shared that “I definitely have some pressure defending the title and it’s my best wish to win it again. But I guess it also has to do with what other players have in their minds, especially those who are sitting here today”, hinting MA.

Meanwhile, strong challengers to take the throne from the Chinese, Germany’s Timo Boll and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, Marcos FREITAS (POR), and Japan’s top player Jun MIZUTANI each had favorable draws, and are expected to go deep into the main draw to fight for the title as the first non-Chinese champion after Werner SCHLAGER (AUT) in 2003.

In the Men’s Doubles, mixed nation pair of MA Long and Timo BOLL will expect a face-off against China’s pair of ZHANG Jike and XU Xin early at the second round of the main draw.

Qualifications that includes players from 100 countries battling for the remaining places at the main draw will start tomorrow 26 April 2015 in front of a capacity crowd with all tickets being sold out!

Seeding List Released for Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships

The seeding list for the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships which will be held in Suzhou, China from 26 April to 3 May 2015, has been released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

310 male and 238 female players from 100 National Federations will be heading to Suzhou in the hope of being crowned the World Table Tennis Champion in front of a capacity crowd.

The seeding, based on ITTF April’s world ranking, sees the Chinese duo of MA Long and DING Ning named as No.1 seeds for the men’s and women’s singles event respectively.

DING will be looking to add a second World Championship title to her already impressive medal collection, and MA will be desperately seeking his first singles World Championships crown to add to his remarkable haul of 19 ITTF World Tour titles amongst other international titles.

Defending champions from two years ago in Paris ZHANG Jike (CHN) and LI Xiaoxia (CHN) will be both seeded three behind teammates XU Xin and LIU Shiwen.

Ma Long will head into the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships as the number one seed.

Finalists from the GAC Group 2014 World Tour Grand Finals Jun MIZUTANI (JPN) and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) head to Suzhou as the number 5th and 6th seeds hoping to ruin the Chinese party and become the first non Chinese singles champion since Werner SCHLAGER (AUT) in 2003.

The challengers to China’s supremacy in the women’s side will be FENG Tianwei (SIN) and Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) who will be the number 4th and 5th seed respectively.

ISHIKAWA may be the highest ranked Japanese women, but the top players will be all hoping to avoid the 14-year-old sensation Mima ITO (JPN), who will be seeded 13 in Suzhou after shocking the world by winning the German Open last month.

While most eyes will be on the top seeds at the 53rd World Table Tennis Championships, there are also some interesting stories away from the table tennis superstars. None more interesting than Jean-Michel SAIVE (BEL), who will be competing in an unmatched 24th World Championships, with his first Championships being back in 1983 as a 13-year-old.

The draw for the top 16 seeds will take place at 14:30 local time on 25 April 2015 at the Suzhou Cultural and Art Center.

Qualification to join the top 64 seeded players, plus 32 who gain direct entry in the 128 strong main draw begins the next day, 26 April, in the Suzhou International Expo Centre, with the main draw beginning on 28 April 2015.

In addition to the singles titles, the world’s best table tennis players will also be fighting for the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles in China.

World’s Best Arrive In Bremen For German Open

The world’s best table tennis players have arrived in Bremen, Germany for the next stop of the prestigious GAC Group 2015 World Tour Super Series, the German Open.

The German Open is traditionally one of the most popular World Tour events among the players and fans, with 301 players from 48 countries making their way to Bremen for the fourth World Tour of 2015.

As usual in Germany, all eyes will be on the local hero and former world number one Timo BOLL (GER). BOLL will be playing his first international event since his semi-final appearance at the Liebherr 2014 Men’s World Cup in October last year.

If the 34-year-old, who has won this tournament a record four times, wins two matches at the Men’s Singles main draw, he is on course to play an intriguing quarter-final match against his Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships doubles partner, world number one MA Long.

Barthel, German Open 2015, credit ittfworld

On this potential match up, BOLL stated: “I always look forward to playing against top players like MA Long. Every time we play, we have amazing matches, so if we play in the quarter-finals, I hope to give the crowd a great match.”

The capacity German crowd at theOVB-Arena, will also be treated to seeing more action from the world’s best such as World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike (CHN), Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) and world number five Jun MIZUTANI (JPN).

World number four FENG Tianwei (SIN) will be looking to continue her red hot form which saw her beat two top Chinese players on her way to winning the Asian Cup title last week.

The London 2012 bronze medalist was the form player of the 2014 World Tour, winning three titles, but has not yet got off the mark in 2015.

The Japanese pair of Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Ai FUKUHARA will also be confident for the German Open crown, as will the Qatar Open champion Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU) and the hometown favourite HAN Ying (GER).

Qualifications for the 16 available positions in the main draw of 32 takes place on 18-19 March, with the knockout action getting underway on 20 March, and the winners being crowned on Sunday 22 March.

Venue of the 2015 German Open, credit ittfworld

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, itTV.

As was the case in 2014, the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour will be split up into three tiers (highest first): Super (6 events), Major (6 events), Challenge (11 events).

The top 16 singles and top 8 doubles pairs on the World Tour Standings will then be invited to the prestigious World Tour Grand Finals at the end of the year, the location to be announced later.