ITTF World Tour 2013

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The ITTF World Tour 2013 was expanded to include the Americas, with USA hosting a tournament for the first time

 By Martin Hughes
 Owner and Editor

ITTF World Tour 2013 logo

In 1996 the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) launched a brand new premier competition - The ITTF Pro Tour.

It was a huge success, so in 2012, after 15 years of solid growth, they took it to the next level and re-named it the ITTF World Tour.

ITTF World Tour Sponsor logo

The GAC Group (China-based car manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group) continued their sponsorship of the World tour in 2013 as the competition developed further, with three tiers of events now making up the World Tour - Super Series, Major Series and Challenge Series.

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Points mean prizes

The ITTF World Tour is a Grand Prix series in which players compete in International Open tournaments around the world and earn grand prix points and prize money according to how well they perform.

The best performers (who also meet the qualifying criteria) were then invited to the end of year Grand Finals where a prize fund of one million US dollars was up for grabs.


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Tournaments around the World

2013 saw 19 events within the ITTF World Tour.

The top rated events were called the Super Series, followed by the Major Series plus the two challenger series of Euro-Africa and the Americas.

There were 6 Super Series events, 6 Major Series events plus 7 Challenger Series events (5 in Euro-Africa and two events in the Americas).


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The Format

The Super Series tournaments held events for:

  • Men's singles
  • Women's singles
  • Men's doubles
  • Women's doubles

    and two optional events...

  • Under 21 years Men's singles
  • Under 21 years Women's singles

 

The Major Series tournaments held events for:

  • Men's singles
  • Women's singles
  • Men's doubles
  • Women's doubles
  • Under 21 years Men's singles
  • Under 21 years Women's singles

 

And the Challenger Series tournaments held events for:

  • Men's singles
  • Women's singles

    plus two events from...

  • Men's doubles
  • Women's doubles
  • Under 21 years Men's singles
  • Under 21 years Women's singles

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Prize Money

The prize money for the GAC ITTF World Tour 2013 was substantial.

The total prize fund was over $2,500,000 with the Grand Finals once again worth $1,000,000.

Each Super Series event must offer a minimum prize fund of $200,000, whilst in the Major Series it's a minimum prize fund of $100,000, and $30,000 for the Challenger Series.

Additionally, the points awarded to the best performers were also tiered.

The winner of an event in a Challenger Series gained 100 points, whilst in the Major Series it was 200 points and in the Super Series 300 points.

And the players with the most points at the end of the season were invited to compete in the lucrative Grand Finals.


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2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

The number of players at the 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals was as follows...

  • Men's and women's singles will each have 17 players.
  • Men's and women's doubles will each have 8 pairs.
  • Under 21 men's and women's singles will each have 8 players.

And the qualifying criteria were...

SINGLES

  • The top 16 men and 16 women who have accumulated the most grand prix points and have competed in at least 5 tournaments.
  • The ITTF will invite one man and one woman from the association hosting the 2013 World Tour Grand Finals.

DOUBLES

  • The top 8 men's doubles pairs and 8 women's doubles pairs who have accumulated the most grand prix points, as a pair, and have competed in at least 4 tournaments.
  • In the case that one player appears in two or more double pairs, only the highest qualifying pair will be considered.

UNDER 21 YEARS

  • The top 8 U21 men and 8 U21 women who have accumulated the largest number of grand prix points.

Players or pairs who finish equal on points for the last positions to qualify will be decided by their position on the last available ITTF World Ranking list. If players or pairs are still equal, reference will be made to the previous World Ranking list and so on.

 

I'll be focussing on the Men's Singles (MS) events only.


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GAC ITTF World Tour 2013

DATES WORLD TOUR EVENTS 2013 MS WINNERS
SUPER SERIES
14-18 Feb Kuwait Open (Kuwait City, Kuwait) Zhang Jike (China)
20-24 Feb Qatar Open (Doha, Qatar) Ma Long (China)
12-16 June China Open (Changchun, China) Ma Long (China)
19-23 June Japan Open (Yokohama, Japan) Masato Shiono (Japan)
14-18 Aug China Open (Suzhou, China) Ma Long (China)
13-17 Nov German Open (Berlin, Germany) Fan Zhendong (China)
 
MAJOR SERIES
23-27 Jan Austrian Open (Wels, Austria) Fang Bo (China)
3-7 Apr Korean Open (Incheon City, South Korea) Xu Xin (China)
21-25 Aug Czech Open (Olomouc, Czech Republic) Masato Shiono (Japan)
6-10 Nov Polish Open (Warsaw, Poland) Fan Zhendong (China)
20-24 Nov Russian Open (Ekaterinburg, Russia) Kazuhiro Chan (Japan)
27 Nov-1 Dec Swedish Open (Stockholm, Sweden) Yan An (China)
 
EURO-AFRICA CHALLENGE SERIES
17-20 Jan Spanish Open (Almeria, Spain) Cazuo Matsumoto (Brazil)
21-24 Mar Egypt Open (Aswan, Egypt) Abdel-Kader Salifou (France)
6-9 June Zagreb Open (Zagreb, Croatia) Abdel-Kader Salifou (France)
27-30 June Morocco Open (Rabat, Morocco) Abdel-Kader Salifou (France)
12-15 Sept Belarus Open (Minsk, Belarus) Kaii Yoshida (Japan)
18-21 Sept Flanders Open (Antwerpen, Belgium) Cancelled (June 2013)
 
AMERICAS CHALLENGE SERIES
3-6 July US Open (Las Vegas, USA) Eugene Wang (Canada)
8-11 Aug Brazil Open (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Hugo Calderano (Brazil)
 
9-12 Jan 2014 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals (Dubai, UAE) XU, Xin (China)

 


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The Grand Finals

The ITTF World Tour Grand Finals were held from 9-12 January 2014 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at the AlNasr Sports Club, Oud Meitha Street, Bur Dubai.

Here is the list of the 16 men who accumulated sufficient Grand Prix points and met the additional qualifying criteria of competing in at least five events (tournaments) and therefore were invited to take part in the 2013 Grand Finals men's singles event.

Some players accumulated sufficient Grand Prix points but didn't compete in sufficient events to be eligible to take part in the prestigious end of season grand finals (NE).

Rank Elig Points Events Continents Player (Family Name, Given Name) Assoc
1 1150 5 1 MA, Long China
2 647 6 2 FAN, Zhendong China
3 625 6 2 XU, Xin China
4 557 5 3 SHIONO, Masato Japan
5 513 6 2 YAN, An China
6 433 6 2 ZHANG, Jike China
7 369 5 1 WANG, Hao China
8 339 5 2 OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij Germany
9 323 9 2 SALIFOU, Abdel-Kader France
10 278 9 2 CHAN, Kazuhiro Japan
11 238 7 2 CHUANG, Chih-Yuan Chinese Taipei
NE 209 2 2 FANG, Bo China
NE 169 4 1 ZHOU, Yu China
12 164 5 2 NIWA, Koki Japan
NE 151 4 1 SHIBAEV, Alexander Russia
NE 150 1 1 XU, Chenhao China
NE 143 4 2 YOSHIDA, Kaii Japan
13 143 6 2 KIM, Minseok South Korea
14 142 8 2 TAKAKIWA, Taku Japan
NE 139 4 2 MIZUTANI, Jun Japan
15 138 6 2 MATSUDAIRA, Kenta Japan
16 136 7 3 MATSUMOTO, Cazuo Brazil
R E S E R V E S
17 122 5 3 WANG, Eugene Canada
NE 119 2 2 HAO, Shuai China
18 119 7 2 GAO, Ning Singapore
19 116 6 2 CHEN, Chien-An Chinese Taipei
NE 113 2 2 BOLL, Timo Germany
20 112 5 1 MACHADO, Carlos Spain

 

The ITTF also invited Abdulla Almohaiseni from the host association (United Arab Emirates).

China's Yan An and Japan's Kenta Matsudaira declined to take part and their places were taken by Eugene Wang from Canada and Gao Ning from Singapore.

 


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Playing format for the Grand Finals

The event was played on a knockout basis.

The seeding of the players were determined by the final order of the World Tour points standing.

The player from the host association (Abdulla Almohaiseni) played a first round Challenge match against the lowest seeded player (Gao Ning).

All matches were the best of 7 games.


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Prize Money

The total prize money at the Grand Finals was $1,004,000

For the men's singles the breakdown was as follows:

Position Amount (US $)
Winner 104,000
Runner-up 52,000
Semi Finals 26,000
Quarter Finals 13,000
Last 16 6,500
Round One 2,000

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Equipment being used

The equipment used for the Grand Finals was...

  • Tables - Double Fish
  • Balls - Double Happiness
  • Flooring - Gerflor

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Date of the draw

The draw was made on 7th January 2014 at 18:00 hours at Spin Dubai, WAFI City.

ITTF World Tour 2013 Grand Finals Draw by courtesy of the ITTF

 

Preliminary Round

Thursday 9 January 2014

Winner Result Loser
GAO, Ning (Singapore) 4-0 ALMOHAISENI, Abdulla (UAE)
11-7, 11-7, 11-2, 11-5

 

First Round

Thursday 9 January 2014

Winner Result Loser
MA, Long (China)
11-8, 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8
4-1 CHAN, Kazuhiro (Japan)
ZHANG, Jike (China)
11-7, 11-8, 11-3, 7-11, 11-2
4-1 TAKAKIWA, Taku (Japan)
KIM, Minseok (South Korea)
11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3, 5-11, 2-11, 11-9
4-3 OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij (Germany)
SHIONO, Masato (Japan)
6-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9
4-3 GAO, Ning (Singapore)
 
XU, Xin (China)
11-8, 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7
4-1 CHUANG, Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei)
SALIFOU, Abdel-Kader (France)
11-5, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5
4-0 MATSUMOTO, Cazuo (Brazil)
WANG, Hao (China)
9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6
4-1 NIWA, Koki (Japan)
FAN, Zhendong (China)
11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4
4-2 WANG, Eugene (Canada)

 

Quarter Finals

Saturday 11 January 2014

Winner Result Loser
MA, Long (China)
8-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5
4-3 ZHANG, Jike (China)
KIM, Minseok (South Korea)
11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 3-11, 4-11, 7-11, 11-6
4-3 SHIONO, Masato (Japan)
 
XU, Xin (China)
11-8, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10
4-0 SALIFOU, Abdel-Kader (France)
FAN, Zhendong (China)
11-9, 10-12, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9
4-1 WANG, Hao (China)

 

Semi Finals

Sunday 12 January 2014

Winner Result Loser
MA, Long (China)
11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6
4-0 KIM, Minseok (South Korea)
XU, Xin (China)
11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10
4-1 FAN, Zhendong (China)

 

Final

Sunday 12 January 2014

Winner Result Runner-up
XU, Xin (China) 4-3 MA, Long (China)
11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5

 

ITTF World Tour 2013 Grand Finals Winner - Xu Xin


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