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Men's World Cup 2017
The Men's World Cup 2017 took place in Liege, Belgium from 20-22 October 2017.
But who qualified for this prestigious table tennis event?
By Martin Hughes
Owner and Editor
The 2017 Men's World Cup was played in Liege, Belgium at the Country hall de Liege, Allee du Bol d'Air 19, 4031 Angleur from 20-22 October 2017.
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.
And from 2013, 20 players compete for the World Cup, with the World Champion automatically qualifying and at least 17 players qualifying through Continental Cups or equivalent types of tournaments. However, no more than two players per Association are allowed to take part.
The Women have their own World Cup competition which is being played in Markham, Canada from 27-29 October 2017, but I'll be focusing on the Men's competition here.
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So...
How did players qualify for 2017 Men's World Cup
Twenty players qualified for the 2017 Men's World Cup as follows...
- the current World champion
- 17 players through Continental Cups or equivalent types of tournaments
- 1 Host player
- 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 2017...
| No. | World Ranking as at Aug 2017 |
Player Family Name, Given Name (Association) |
How Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | MA, Long (China 1) | World Champion |
| 2 | 31 | ARUNA, Quadri (Nigeria) | African Cup Winner |
| 3 | 32 | LIN, Gaoyuan (China 2) | Asian Cup Winner |
| 4 | 104 | TSUBOI, Gustavo (Brazil) | Pan Am Cup Winner |
| 5 | 212 | JHA, Kanak (USA) | Pan Am North American Qualifier |
| 6 | 293 | POWELL, David (Australia) | Oceania Cup Winner |
| 7 | 4 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij (Germany 1) | Europe Cup Winner |
| 8 | 12 | LEE, Sangsu (South Korea 1) | Asian Cup 2nd place |
| 9 | 52 | CHEN, Chien-An (Chinese Taipei 1) | Asian Cup 3rd place |
| 10 | 35 | SHIBAEV, Alexander (Russia) | Europe Cup 2nd place |
| 11 | 14 | GAUZY, Simon (France) | Europe Cup 3rd place |
| 12 | 6 | MIZUTANI, Jun (Japan) | Continental Cup Qualifier 1 |
| 13 | 30 | KOU, Lei (Ukraine) | Continental Cup Qualifier 2 |
| 14 | 7 | BOLL, Timo (Germany 2) | Continental Cup Qualifier 3 |
| 15 | 39 | ASSAR, Omar (Egypt) | Continental Cup Qualifier 4 |
| 16 | 40 | JEOUNG, Sangeun (South Korea 2) | Continental Cup Qualifier 5 |
| 17 | 13 | CHUANG, Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei 2) | Continental Cup Qualifier 6 |
| 18 | 9 | NIWA, Koki (Japan 2) | Continental Cup Qualifier 7 |
| 19 | 81 | NUYTINCK, Cedric (Belgium) | Host Association nomination |
| 20 | 15 | FREITAS, Marcos (Portugal) | ITTF wild card |
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So let's take a look at the...
Playing format for 2017
The tournament consists of two stages, with all matches being the best of seven games, but first, all the players taking part are 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) are 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 head each group A, B, C and D respectively.
Players seeded 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th are drawn randomly into the second position of each group.
The remaining players seeded 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th are drawn randomly into the third and last position in each group.
If there are two players from the same Association, they are drawn into separate groups.
The top two finishers of each group then join the top 8 seeded players in the second stage of the competition.
Stage 2
The second stage of the competition consists of a knockout draw.
The player seeded 1 is placed in position 1.
The player seeded 2 is placed in position 16.
Seeds 3 and 4 are drawn between positions 8 and 9.
Seeds 5, 6, 7 and 8 are drawn randomly into positions 4, 5, 12 and 13.
Group winners from the first stage are drawn randomly into positions 3, 6, 11 and 14.
Group second place finishers from the first stage are drawn randomly into positions 2, 7, 10 and 15.
Group winners and second place finishers from the same group are drawn into opposite halves of the draw.
There is no separation by Association.
Losers of the semi-finals play each other for third place.
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So what prize money is on offer?
The World Cup prize money
The prize money for the men's table tennis 2017 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 2017.
The balls being 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 (Oct 2017) | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | MA, Long (China) |
| 2 | 4 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij (Germany) |
| 3 | 5 | BOLL, Timo (Germany) |
| 4 | 7 | MIZUTANI, Jun (Japan) |
| 5 | 8 | NIWA, Koki (Japan) |
| 6 | 9 | LIN, Gaoyuan (China) |
| 7 | 13 | GAUZY, Simon (France) |
| 8 | 15 | CHUANG, Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei) |
| 9 | 16 | LEE, Sangsu (South Korea) |
| 10 | 19 | FREITAS, Marcos (Portugal) |
| 11 | 21 | ASSAR, Omar (Egypt) |
| 12 | 33 | CHEN, Chien-An (Chinese Taipei) |
| 13 | 34 | KOU, Lei (Ukraine) |
| 14 | 36 | ARUNA, Quadri (Nigeria) |
| 15 | 36 | JEOUNG, Sangeun (South Korea) |
| 16 | 41 | SHIBAEV, Alexander (Russia) |
| 17 | 71 | NUYTINCK, Cedric (Belgium) |
| 18 | 112 | TSUBOI, Gustavo (Brazil) |
| 19 | 228 | JHA, Kanak (USA) |
| 20 | 339 | POWELL, David (Australia) |
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So let's now see who played in...
Stage 1
The draw was made on Thursday 19 October 2017.
Group A
- LEE, Sangsu
- ARUNA, Quadri
- JHA, Kanak
Group B
- FREITAS, Marcos
- KOU, Lei
- POWELL, David
Group C
- ASSAR, Omar
- SHIBAEV, Alexander
- NUYTINCK, Cedric
Group D
- CHEN, Chien-An
- JEONG, Sangeun
- TSUBOI, Gustavo
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And here are the...
Results for Stage 1 of the World Cup 2017
Friday 20 October 2017
Group A
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| LEE, Sangsu | 4-3 | JHA, Kanak |
| 9-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-1, 11-4 | ||
| LEE, Sangsu | 4-3 | ARUNA, Quadri |
| 11-8, 1-11, 7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-4, 12-10 | ||
| ARUNA, Quadri | 4-2 | JHA, Kanak |
| 7-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 |
Group A winner = LEE Sangsu
Group A runner-up = Quadri ARUNA
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Group B
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| FREITAS, Marcos | 4-0 | POWELL, David |
| 11-7, 11-3, 11-2, 11-9 | ||
| FREITAS, Marcos | 4-0 | KOU, Lei |
| 11-3, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5 | ||
| KOU, Lei | 4-0 | POWELL, David |
| 11-7, 11-2, 11-4, 11-3 |
Group B winner = Marcos FREITAS
Group B runner-up = KOU Lei
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Group C
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| ASSAR, Omar | 4-3 | NUYTINCK, Cedric |
| 9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 | ||
| SHIBAEV, Alexander | 4-3 | ASSAR, Omar |
| 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7 | ||
| SHIBAEV, Alexander | 4-0 | NUYTINCK, Cedric |
| 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 |
Group C winner = Alexander SHIBAEV
Group C runner-up = Omar ASSAR
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Group D
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| TSUBOI, Gustavo | w/o | CHEN, Chien-An (withdrew - sickness) |
| JEONG, Sangeun | w/o | CHEN, Chien-An (withdrew - sickness) |
| JEONG, Sangeun | 4-1 | TSUBOI, Gustavo |
| 5-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 |
Group D winner = JEONG Sangeun
Group D runner-up = Gustavo TSUBOI
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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 2017
The draw was made on Friday 20 October 2017.
Last 16
Saturday 21 October 2017
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| MA, Long | 4-1 | ASSAR, Omar |
| 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 | ||
| NIWA, Koki | 4-2 | LEE, Sangsu |
| 11-5, 12-10, 8-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-9 | ||
| LIN, Gaoyuan | 4-1 | FREITAS, Marcos |
| 11-3, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 | ||
| BOLL, Timo | 4-0 | TSUBOI, Gustavo |
| 12-10, 11-8, 11-5, 13-11 | ||
| MIZUTANI, Jun | 4-0 | ARUNA, Quadri |
| 11-6, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 | ||
| GAUZY, Simon | 4-1 | JEONG, Sangeun |
| 9-11, 11-4, 13-11, 11-7, 11-9 | ||
| SHIBAEV, Alexander | 4-2 | CHUANG, Chih-Yuan |
| 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9 | ||
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4-1 | KOU, Lei |
| 11-4, 11-5, 13-11, 10-12, 11-6 |
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Quarter Finals
Saturday 21 October 2017
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| MA, Long | 4-1 | NIWA, Koki |
| 13-11, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 | ||
| BOLL, Timo | 4-3 | LIN, Gaoyuan |
| 5-11, 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 14-12, 13-11 | ||
| GAUZY, Simon | 4-3 | MIZUTANI, Jun |
| 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 11-13, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8 | ||
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4-3 | SHIBAEV, Alexander |
| 9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7 |
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The 4 winners then progressed to the...
Semi Finals of the World Cup 2017
Sunday 22 October 2017
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| BOLL, Timo | 4-3 | MA, Long |
| 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10 | ||
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4-3 | GAUZY, Simon |
| 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8 |
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3rd / 4th Place Match
Sunday 22 October 2017
| 3rd PLACE | Result | 4th PLACE |
|---|---|---|
| MA, Long | 4-2 | GAUZY, Simon |
| 11-5, 11-13, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 |
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Final of World Cup 2017
Sunday 22 October 2017
| WINNER | Result | RUNNER-UP |
|---|---|---|
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4-2 | BOLL, Timo |
| 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2 |
Dimitrij Ovtcharov celebrates winning the final point to clinch World Cup 2017
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