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Men's World Cup 2015
The Men's World Cup 2015 took place in Halmstad, Sweden from 16-18 October 2015.
But who qualified for this prestigious table tennis event?
By Martin Hughes
Owner and Editor
The 2015 Men's World Cup was played in Halmstad, Sweden at the Halmstad Arena from 16-18 October 2015.
The Men's World Cup first started in 1980 as an invitational event for 16 players, and in 2009 it was extended to 19 players.
But from 2013, 20 players compete for the World Cup, with three invited players and 17 others qualifying through Continental Cups or equivalent types of tournaments.
The Women had their own World Cup competition in Sendai, Japan from 30 October to 1 November 2015, but I'll be focusing on the Men's competition here.
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So...
How did players qualify for 2015 Men's World Cup
Twenty players qualified for the 2015 Men's World Cup as follows...
- the current World champion
- 17 players through Continental Cups or equivalent types of tournaments
- 1 Host Association player nominated by his Association
- 1 "wild card" selected by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)
The rules also state that not more than two players from any Association can participate.
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So let's take a look and see...
Which players qualified?
The following players qualified to take part in the LIEBHERR Men's World Cup 2015...
| No. | World Ranking as at Aug 2015 |
Player Family Name, Given Name (Association) |
How Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | MA Long (China) | World Champion |
| 2 | 30 | Omar ASSAR (Egypt) | African Cup Winner |
| 3 | 2 | Xu Xin (China) | Asian Cup Winner |
| 4 | 52 | Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil) | Latin American Cup Winner |
| 5 | 415 | Jimmy BUTLER (USA) | North American Cup Winner |
| 6 | 117 | William HENZELL (Australia) | Oceania Cup Winner |
| 7 | 5 | Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) | Europe Cup Winner |
| 8 | 10 | Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) | Europe Cup 2nd place |
| 9 | 23 | Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece) | Europe Cup 3rd place |
| 10 | 36 | Simon GAUZY (France) | Europe Cup 4th place |
| 11 | 18 | Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal) | Europe Cup 5th place |
| 12 | 24 | Robert GARDOS (Austria) | Europe Cup 6th place |
| 13 | 6 | Jun MIZUTANI (Japan) | Asian Cup 3rd place |
| 14 | 14 | TANG Peng (Hong Kong China) | Asian Cup 4th place |
| 15 | 32 | KIM Minseok (South Korea) | Asian Cup 5th place |
| 16 | 41 | Sharath Kamal ACHANTA (India) | Asian Cup 6th place |
| 17 | 11 | Koki NIWA (Japan) | Asian Cup 7th place |
| 18 | 17 | GAO Ning (Singapore) | Asian Cup 8th place |
| 19 | 69 | Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden) | Host Association |
| 20 | 105 | Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) | ITTF wild card |
| 3 | FAN Zhendong (China) | Substitute 1 (Asian Cup 2nd place) | |
| 15 | CHUANG Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) | Substitute 2 (Asian Cup 9/10 place) |
Xu Xin from China and Kim Minseok from South Korea did not take part, so Fan Zhendong from China and Chuang Chih-Yuan from Chinese Taipei were drafted in as substitutes.
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So let's take a look at the...
Playing format for 2015
The tournament consisted of two stages, with all matches being the best of seven games, but first, all the players taking part were ranked and seeded according to the latest available World Ranking list.
Stage 1
In the first stage, the players seeded from 9 to 20 (12 players) were divided into 4 equal groups of 3 players, with all the members of a group playing each other (round-robin).
Players seeded 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th headed each group A, B, C and D respectively.
Players seeded 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th were drawn randomly into the second position of each group.
The remaining players seeded 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th were drawn randomly into the third and last position in each group.
If there were two players from the same Association, they were drawn into separate groups.
The top two finishers of each group then joined the top 8 seeded players in the second stage of the competition.
Stage 2
The second stage of the competition consisted of a knockout draw.
The player seeded 1 was placed in position 1.
The player seeded 2 was placed in position 16.
Seeds 3 and 4 were drawn between positions 8 and 9.
Seeds 5, 6, 7 and 8 were drawn randomly into positions 4, 5, 12 and 13.
Group winners from the first stage were drawn randomly into positions 3, 6, 11 and 14.
Group second place finishers from the first stage were drawn randomly into positions 2, 7, 10 and 15.
Group winners and second place finishers from the same group were drawn into opposite halves of the draw.
There was no separation by Association.
Losers of the semi-finals played each other for third place.
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So what prize money was on offer?
The World Cup prize money
The prize money for the men's table tennis 2015 World Cup was US$ 150,000
This was divided up as follows:
| Winner | US$ 45,000 |
| Runner-up | US$ 25,000 |
| 3rd Place | US$ 15,000 |
| 4th Place | US$ 10,000 |
| Places 5-8 | US$ 6,000 |
| Places 9-16 | US$ 3,250 |
| Places 17-20 | US$ 1,250 |
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And let's see the...
Equipment used
The German manufacturer DONIC was the table sponsor and supplier for the LIEBHERR Men's World Cup 2015, having extended their sponsorship of this prestigious event in 2012 for a further three years until 2015.
The balls used were Double Happiness 3 star plastic, and the flooring was by Enlio.
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So let's take a look at the...
Seedings
The seedings were as follows...
| Seed | World Ranking | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | MA Long (China) |
| 2 | 3 | FAN Zhendong (China) |
| 3 | 5 | Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) |
| 4 | 6 | Jun MIZUTANI (Japan) |
| 5 | 8 | Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) |
| 6 | 10 | CHUANG Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) |
| 7 | 14 | Koki NIWA (Japan) |
| 8 | 15 | TANG Peng (Hong Kong China) |
| 9 | 20 | GAO Ning (Singapore) |
| 10 | 22 | Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal) |
| 11 | 25 | Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece) |
| 12 | 26 | Robert GARDOS (Austria) |
| 13 | 28 | Simon GAUZY (France) |
| 14 | 35 | Omar ASSAR (Egypt) |
| 15 | 59 | Sharath Kamal ACHANTA (India) |
| 16 | 61 | Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden) |
| 17 | 65 | Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil) |
| 18 | 85 | Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) |
| 19 | 127 | William HENZELL (Australia) |
| 20 | 442 | Jimmy BUTLER (USA) |
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So let's now see who played in...
Stage 1
The draw was made on Thursday 15 October 2015.
Group A
- GAO Ning (Singapore)
- Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden)
- William HENZELL (Australia)
Group B
- Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal)
- Omar ASSAR (Egypt)
- Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil)
Group C
- Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece)
- Simon GAUZY (France)
- Jimmy BUTLER (USA)
Group D
- Robert GARDOS (Austria)
- Sharath Kamal ACHANTA (India)
- Anton KALLBERG (Sweden)
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And here are the...
Results for Stage 1 of the World Cup 2015
Friday 16 October 2015
Group A
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| GAO Ning (Singapore) | 4-0 | William HENZELL (Australia) |
| 11-5, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 | ||
| Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden) | 4-1 | GAO Ning (Singapore) |
| 11-4, 5-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-7 | ||
| Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden) | 4-1 | William HENZELL (Australia) |
| 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8 |
Group A winner = Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden)
Group A runner-up = GAO Ning (Singapore)
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Group B
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil) | 4-3 | Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal) |
| 8-11, 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 | ||
| Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal) | 4-3 | Omar ASSAR (Egypt) |
| 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8 | ||
| Omar ASSAR (Egypt) | 4-3 | Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil) |
| 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 |
Group B winner = Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil)
Group B runner-up = Omar ASSAR (Egypt)
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Group C
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece) | 4-0 | Jimmy BUTLER (USA) |
| 11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 | ||
| Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece) | 4-1 | Simon GAUZY (France) |
| 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 | ||
| Simon GAUZY (France) | 4-0 | Jimmy BUTLER (USA) |
| 12-10, 11-8, 11-7, 10-8 |
Group C winner = Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece)
Group C runner-up = Simon GAUZY (France)
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Group D
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| Robert GARDOS (Austria) | 4-0 | Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) |
| 11-8, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 | ||
| Robert GARDOS (Austria) | 4-0 | Sharath Kamal ACHANTA (India) |
| 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 | ||
| Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) | 4-0 | Sharath Kamal ACHANTA (India) |
| 11-5, 11-6, 11-1, 11-8 |
Group D winner = Robert GARDOS (Austria)
Group D runner-up = Anton KALLBERG (Sweden)
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The top 8 seeds then joined the winners and runners-up from the first stage groups...
Stage 2 Results of the World Cup 2015
The draw was made on Friday 16 October 2015.
Last 16
Saturday 17 October 2015
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| MA Long (China) | 4-1 | Omar ASSAR (Egypt) |
| 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 | ||
| Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) | 4-2 | Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece) |
| 10-12, 11-9, 10-12, 15-13, 11-3, 11-0 | ||
| Koki NIWA (Japan) | 4-2 | Robert GARDOS (Austria) |
| 11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5 | ||
| Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) | 4-0 | GAO Ning (Singapore) |
| 11-4, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 | ||
| Jun MIZUTANI (Japan) | 4-1 | Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) |
| 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 | ||
| Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil) | 4-3 | TANG Peng (Hong Kong China) |
| 12-10, 11-9, 10-12, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 14-12 | ||
| CHUANG Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) | 4-1 | Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden) |
| 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 13-11 | ||
| FAN Zhendong (China) | 4-0 | Simon GAUZY (France) |
| 11-7, 11-5, 12-10, 11-3 |
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Quarter Finals
Saturday 17 October 2015
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| MA Long (China) | 4-0 | Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) |
| 12-10, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6 | ||
| Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) | 4-1 | Koki NIWA (Japan) |
| 10-12, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 | ||
| Jun MIZUTANI (Japan) | 4-0 | Gustavo TSUBOI (Brazil) |
| 11-2, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 | ||
| FAN Zhendong (China) | 4-1 | CHUANG Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) |
| 4-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5, 14-12 |
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The 4 winners then progressed to the...
Semi Finals of the World Cup 2015
Sunday 18 October 2015
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| MA Long (China) | 4-0 | Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) |
| 11-4, 11-2, 11-7, 11-4 | ||
| FAN Zhendong (China) | 4-1 | Jun MIZUTANI (Japan) |
| 8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 |
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3rd / 4th Place Match
Sunday 18 October 2015
| 3rd PLACE | Result | 4th PLACE |
|---|---|---|
| Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) | 4-2 | Jun MIZUTANI (Japan) |
| 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 |
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Final of World Cup 2015
Sunday 18 October 2015
| WINNER | Result | RUNNER-UP |
|---|---|---|
| MA Long (China) | 4-0 | FAN Zhendong (China) |
| 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 |
World Cup 2015 - Top 3
World Cup 2015 Winner - Ma Long
World Cup 2015 Winner - Ma Long
World Cup 2015 Runner up - Fan Zhendong
World Cup 2015 3rd Place - Dimitrij Ovtcharov
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