World Cup

The table tennis World Cup is for 16 of the world's top players only.
But who qualifies for this prestigious table tennis event?

by courtesy of the ITTF

The table tennis World Cup first took place in Hong Kong in August 1980 as an experimental event, but it proved so successful that it's been contested every year since.

2008 saw Liege, Belgium stage the tournament from 26 to 28 September.

This was the first tournament to take place since the ban on the use of speed glue came into effect.

  The World Cup

The table tennis World Cup is for 16 selected players only.

Not more than two players from any Association can participate unless a third is invited as a "wild card" selection.

So, with one representative from each of the six continents, plus the top six eligible players in the world rankings, a home association player, the current title holder and two wild card entries, the table tennis World Cup is indeed for a very select group of players.

 

So who took part in 2008? ...

  Men's World Cup 2008

The following players were invited to take part in the 2008 Men's World Cup ...

So what prize money was on offer? ...

  The World Cup prize money

The prize money for the men's table tennis World Cup was US$ 135,000

This was divided up as follows:

So what's the format for the tournament? ...

  The Group Stage ...

The 16 players in the men's table tennis World Cup are first seeded into four groups.

Each player competes against the other three players in his group and matches are the best of seven sets.

The winner and runner-up of each group then advance to the quarter finals whereupon the competition will be a straight knock-out, best of seven sets.

So the World Cup groups were ...

Group A

• WANG, Hao (China)

• CHUAN, Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei)

• SCHLAGER, Werner (Austria)

• PETER-PAUL, Pradeeban (Canada)

Group B

• MA, Long (China)

• JOO, Se Hyuk (Korea)

• MAZE, Michael (Denmark)

• CARTER, Trent (Australia)

Group C

• BOLL, Timo (Germany)

• GAO, Ning (Singapore)

• KREANGA, Kalinikos (Greece)

• TORIOLA, Segun (Nigeria)

Group D

• RYU, Seung Min (Korea)

• LI, Ching (Hong Kong)

• OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij (Germany)

• SAIVE, Jean-Michel (Belgium)

 

 

  Results for World Cup 2008

Friday/Saturday
26/27 September 2008

Group A

WINNER	Result	LOSER
WANG, Hao	4-2	SCHLAGER, Werner
CHUAN, Chih-Yuan	4-2	PETER-PAUL, Pradeeban
WANG, Hao	4-0	CHUAN, Chih-Yuan
SCHLAGER, Werner	4-0	PETER-PAUL, Pradeeban
WANG, Hao	4-0	PETER-PAUL, Pradeeban
SCHLAGER, Werner	4-2	CHUAN, Chih-Yuan

• Group A winner = WANG, Hao

• Group A runner-up = SCHLAGER, Werner

 

Group B

WINNER	Result	LOSER
MA, Long	4-0	MAZE, Michael
JOO, Se Hyuk	4-0	CARTER, Trent
MA, Long	4-3	JOO, Se Hyuk
MAZE, Michael	4-0	CARTER, Trent
MA, Long	4-0	CARTER, Trent
JOO, Se Hyuk	4-0	MAZE, Michael

• Group B winner = MA, Long

• Group B runner-up = JOO, Se Hyuk

 

Group C

WINNER	Result	LOSER
KREANGA, Kalinikos	4-2	BOLL, Timo
TORIOLA, Segun	4-3	GAO, Ning
BOLL, Timo	4-1	GAO, Ning
KREANGA, Kalinikos	4-3	TORIOLA, Segun
BOLL, Timo	4-0	TORIOLA, Segun
KREANGA, Kalinikos	4-0	GAO, Ning

• Group C winner = KREANGA, Kalinikos

• Group C runner-up = BOLL, Timo

 

Group D

WINNER	Result	LOSER
RYU, Seung Min	4-0	OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij
LI, Ching	4-0	SAIVE, Jean-Michel
RYU, Seung Min	4-3	LI, Ching
OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij	4-3	SAIVE, Jean-Michel
RYU, Seung Min	4-0	SAIVE, Jean-Michel
OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij	4-3	LI, Ching

• Group D winner = RYU, Seung Min

• Group D runner-up = OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij

 

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Knock-out stage

Saturday 27 September 2008

Quarter Finals

WINNER	Result	LOSER
WANG, Hao	4-1	OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij
KREANGA, Kalinikos	4-2	JOO, Se Hyuk
BOLL, Timo	4-0	RYU, Seung Min
MA, Long	4-1	SCHLAGER, Werner

 

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Sunday 28 September 2008

Semi Finals

WINNER	Result	LOSER
WANG, Hao	4-2	KREANGA, Kalinikos
BOLL, Timo	4-3	MA, Long

 

 

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Sunday 28 September 2008

Bronze Medal match

BRONZE MEDALLIST	Result	LOSER
MA, Long	4-1	KREANGA, Kalinikos
7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8

 

---

 

Sunday 28 September 2008

Final

GOLD MEDALLIST	Result	SILVER MEDALLIST
WANG, Hao	4-1	BOLL, Timo
11-8, 11-3, 14-16, 11-7, 11-9
Watch the final here

 

2008 Medal Winners

Timo Boll,   Wang Hao,   Ma Long

  Learn more about table tennis tournaments

Olympic Games

• How did table tennis become an olympic sport?

• Which events make up the olympic TT competition?

• Who are the olympic medallists?

2004 Olympic Games - Athens, Greece

• Who won the 2004 Olympic Men's Singles Gold Medal?

2008 Olympic Games - Beijing, China

• Which men qualified for the 2008 Olympics?

• Which women qualified for the 2008 Olympics?

• Which mens teams qualified for the 2008 Olympics?

• Which womens teams qualified for the 2008 Olympics?

• See the table tennis venue for the 2008 Olympics

• 2008 Olympic table tennis competition schedule

• 2008 Olympics team events - seedings

• Men's Team Event - Results

• Women's Team Event - Results

• Men's Singles Event - Results

• Women's Singles Event - Results

2012 Olympic Games - London, England

• Get the lowdown on the preparations for 2012

 

World Championships

• World table tennis championships

ITTF Pro Tour

• ITTF Pro Tour Events

World Rankings

• World table tennis rankings