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ITTF World Tour 2017
The new, revamped ITTF World Tour 2017. Where the best players in the world competed for the biggest money prizes
By Martin Hughes
Owner and Editor
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.
And in 2017 a new format was introduced with more prize money and even better organised events.
The World Tour now consists of two tiers plus the end-of-year Grand Finals, whilst the ITTF Challenge Series is separate from the World Tour.
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So how did the 2017 ITTF World Tour work?
New Format, Better Organisation
The 2017 World Tour consisted of two tiers of competition together with the end-of-year Grand Finals.
The two tiers were the World Tour (maximum 6 events) and the World Tour Platinum (maximum 6 events) which fed into the end-of-year Grand Finals.
The World Tour Platinum series events were allocated to the six best bids submitted by cities/affiliated Associations, whilst the World Tour events were allocated to the next six best bids.
The Platinum tier attracts the best players and the highest media attention whilst the competitive ITTF World Tour featured both top players and the up-and-coming future stars.
The World Tour Grand Finals consisted of the top 16 men and women players (singles & doubles) who earned enough points on the World Tour to qualify for the most important event of the tour - the exciting year-end finale.
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So how did it work in 2017?
Points mean prizes
The ITTF World Tour was a Grand Prix series in which players competed in International Open tournaments around the world and earned grand prix points and prize money according to how well they performed.
The best performers (who also met the qualifying criteria) were then invited to the end of year Grand Finals where a prize fund of US$1,000,000 was up for grabs.
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So what was different in 2017?
12 Tournaments around the World
2017 saw the ITTF World Tour limited to 12 high quality events.
The top rated events were called the World Tour Platinum series whilst the regular events were named - ITTF World Tour.
There were 6 Platinum series events and 6 regular events.
The minimum prize money offered at each Platinum event was US$ 120,000 whilst the minimum prize money offered at each regular event was US$ 70,000.
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So let's take a look at...
The Format
The tournaments held the following events:
- 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 men's and women's singles were limited to 32 players in the main draw, whilst the men's and women's doubles were limited to 16 pairs in the main draw.
The Under 21s events (where played) were limited to 32 players in the main draw.
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But to be invited to the Grand Finals, players must have met ALL the qualifying criteria...
2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
The number of players at the 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals were as follows...
- Men's and women's singles will each have 16 players.
- Men's and women's doubles will each have 8 pairs.
And the qualifying criteria were...
SINGLES
- The top 15 men and 15 women who accumulated the most grand prix points and competed in at least 5 tournaments.
- The ITTF would also invite one man and one woman from the association hosting the 2017 World Tour Grand Finals if they have competed in at least 5 tournaments throughout the year.
DOUBLES
- The top 7 men's doubles pairs and 7 women's doubles pairs who accumulated the most grand prix points, as a pair, and who competed in at least 4 tournaments.
- The ITTF would also invite one man and one woman doubles pair from the association hosting the 2017 World Tour Grand Finals if they have competed in at least 4 tournaments.
I focus only on the Men's Singles (MS) events here.
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Here are the events which made up the...
ITTF World Tour 2017
| DATES | WORLD TOUR EVENTS 2017 | MS WINNERS |
|---|---|---|
| WORLD TOUR PLATINUM SERIES | ||
| 21-26 Feb | Qatar Open (Doha, Qatar) | Ma Long (China) |
| 14-18 June | Japan Open (Tokyo, Japan) | Ma Long (China) |
| 20-25 June | China Open (Chengdu, China) | Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany) |
| 2-7 July | Australian Open (Brisbane, Australia) | Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus) |
| 19-24 Sep | Austrian Open (Linz, Austria) | Lin Gaoyuan (China) |
| 7-12 Nov | German Open (Magdeburg, Germany) | Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany) |
| WORLD TOUR | ||
| 17-22 Jan | Hungarian Open (Budapest, Hungary) | Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) |
| 14-19 Feb | Indian Open (New Delhi, India) | Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany) |
| 18-23 Apr | Korean Open (Incheon, South Korea) | Timo Boll (Germany) |
| 15-20 Aug | Bulgaria Open (Panagyurishte, Bulgaria) | Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany) |
| 22-27 Aug | Czech Open (Olomouc, Czech Republic) | Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan) |
| 13-19 Nov | Swedish Open (Stockholm, Sweden) | Xu Xin (China) |
| 14-17 Dec | ITTF World Tour Grand Finals (Astana, Kazakhstan) | Fan Zhendong (China) |
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So when and where were the Grand Finals staged?
The Grand Finals
The ITTF World Tour Grand Finals were held from 14-17 December 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Here is the list of the men who accumulated sufficient Grand Prix points and met the additional qualifying criteria of competing in at least five events (tournaments) and were therefore invited to take part in the 2017 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 (N/E).
| Rank | Elig | Points | Events | Player (Family Name, Given Name) | Assoc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1550 | 5 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | Germany | |
| N/E | 1050 | 3 | MA, Long | China | |
| 2 | 1000 | 5 | BOLL, Timo | Germany | |
| 3 | 975 | 5 | FAN, Zhendong | China | |
| 744 | 6 | LIN, Gaoyuan | China | ||
| 5 | 650 | 5 | XU, Xin | China | |
| 6 | 641 | 9 | HARIMOTO, Tomokazu | Japan | |
| N/E | 616 | 4 | YAN, An | China | |
| 7 | 615 | 7 | GAUZY, Simon | France | |
| 8 | 614 | 6 | SAMSONOV, Vladimir | Belarus | |
| 9 | 613 | 10 | MATSUDAIRA, Kenta | Japan | |
| 10 | 594 | 5 | FANG, Bo | China | |
| 11 | 560 | 9 | NIWA, Koki | Japan | |
| 12 | 433 | 6 | WONG, Chun Ting | Hong Kong China | |
| 13 | 375 | 5 | YOSHIDA, Masaki | Japan | |
| N/E | 350 | 3 | MIZUTANI, Jun | Japan | |
| 14 | 347 | 9 | OSHIMA, Yuya | Japan | |
| 15 | 332 | 7 | CHUANG, Chin-Yuan | Chinese Taipei | |
| I N V I T E D P L A Y E R | |||||
| 16 | 16 | 5 | GERASSIMENKO, Kirill | Kazakhstan | |
| R E S E R V E S | |||||
| 17 | 272 | 6 | FREITAS, Marcos | Portugal | |
| 18 | 264 | 5 | DRINKHALL, Paul | England | |
| 19 | 253 | 8 | KARLSSON, Kristian | Sweden | |
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So what was the...
Playing format for the 2017 Grand Finals
The event were played on a knockout basis.
The seeding of the players was determined by the final order of the World Tour points standing.
All matches were the best of 7 games.
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And what was the...
Prize Money
The total prize money at the 2017 Grand Finals was $1,000,000
For the men's singles, the breakdown was as follows:
| Position | Amount (US $) |
|---|---|
| Winner | 100,000 |
| Runner-up | 55,000 |
| Losing Semi-Finalists | 35,000 |
| Losing Quarter Finalists | 25,000 |
| Last 16 | 15,000 |
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And the...
Equipment used
The equipment used for the Grand Finals was...
- Tables - Double Fish (Volant Dream 2)
- Balls - Double Happiness 40+ Three Star
- Flooring - Tinsue (red)
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So let's take a look at the men's singles finals...
Date of the draw
The draw was made on 13 December 2017 at 15:00 hours.
First Round
Thursday/Friday
14/15 December 2017
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij 10-12, 11-6, 12-14, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5 |
4-3 | NIWA, Koki |
| HARIMOTO, Tomokazu 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 15-13 |
4-0 | GERASSIMENKO, Kirill |
| FANG, Bo 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 |
4-0 | GAUZY, Simon |
| LIN, Gaoyuan 11-4, 11-1, 11-6, 11-7 |
4-0 | YOSHIDA, Masaki |
| FAN, Zhendong 17-15, 8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6 |
4-2 | CHUANG, Chih-Yuan |
| XU, Xin 11-6, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 |
4-0 | MATSUDAIRA, Kenta |
| WONG, Chun Ting 11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 13-11, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9 |
4-3 | SAMSONOV, Vladimir |
| BOLL, Timo 11-6, 8-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 |
4-2 | OSHIMA, Yuya |
Xu Xin and Kenta Matsudaira
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Quarter Finals
Friday/Saturday
15/16 December 2017
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij 11-7, 11-13, 11-8, 12-14, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 |
4-3 | HARIMOTO, Tomokazu |
| LIN, Gaoyuan 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 |
4-1 | FANG, Bo |
| FAN, Zhendong 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10 |
4-1 | XU, Xin |
| BOLL, Timo 4-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-3 |
4-2 | WONG, Chun Ting |
Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin
Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Tomokazu Harimoto
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Semi Finals
Saturday 16 December 2017
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10 |
4-3 | LIN, Gaoyuan |
| FAN, Zhendong 11-6, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7 |
4-2 | BOLL, Timo |
Fan Zhendong and Timo Boll
Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Lin Gaoyuan
Final
Sunday 17 December 2017
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| FAN, Zhendong 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10 |
4-0 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij |
Fan Zhendong and Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Fan Zhendong celebrates the winning point
Fan Zhendong and Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Fan Zhendong on the podium
Fan Zhendong
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