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ITTF Pro Tour 2008
The ITTF Pro Tour started in 1996, but here's what happened in 2008. Plus all the results from the 2008 end of season Grand Finals
By Martin Hughes
Owner and Editor
by courtesy of the ITTF
After suffering a steady decline in the number of top players competing in International Open Tournaments, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) initiated a brand new premier competition in 1996 ... one that was specifically designed to attract the best players in the world...
The ITTF Pro Tour.
You can read all about it here.
In 2008, it was the 13th consecutive year of the ITTF Pro Tour.
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So let's take a look at what happened in 2008...
The 2008 Schedule
The 2008 ITTF Pro-Tour consisted of 14 international tournaments leading up to the end-of-season Grand Finals held in Macao, China.
Although the ITTF Pro-Tour consists of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles, I'll be concentrating on the main event... the men's singles.
So what were the tournaments which made up the ITTF Pro Tour in 2008?
| DATES | ITTF Pro Tour Events 2008 | MS WINNERS |
|---|---|---|
| 15-19 Jan | Slovenian Open (Velenje) | Vladimir Samsonov |
| 13-16 Mar | Kuwait Open (Kuwait City) | Vladimir Samsonov |
| 18-22 Mar | ERKE Qatar Open (Doha) | Ma Lin |
| 17-20 Apr | Brazil Open (Belo Horizonte) | Jiang Tianyi |
| 23-27 Apr | Chile Open (Santiago) | Ryu Seung Min |
| 14-18 May | VW China Open (ChangChun) | Wang Hao |
| 21-25 May | VW Open - Japan (Yokohama) | Ma Lin |
| 22-25 May | STAG Belarus Open (Minsk) | Vladimir Samsonov |
| 29 May-1 Jun | VW Open - Korea (Daejeon) | Ma Long |
| 5-8 Jun | VW Open - Singapore (Singapore) | Ma Long |
| 11-14 Sep | Panasonic China Open (Shanghai) | Hao Shuai |
| 29 Oct-2 Nov | ERKE Austrian Open (Salzburg) | Timo Boll |
| 19-23 Nov | ERKE German Open (Berlin) | Timo Boll |
| 26-30 Nov | Polish Open (Warsaw) | Timo Boll |
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Let's take a look at what prize money was on offer...
Prize money
The prize money varied from tournament to tournament.
Some of the events were designated as premier events ... such as Kuwait and Qatar which both offered the largest total purse ... $211,600 ... with the men's and women's singles winners receiving $28,800 each.
The Pro Tour Grand Finals offered a total prize fund of $290,000 ... with the men's and women's singles winners collecting $38,000 each and the men's and women's doubles winners collecting $10,000.
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So who qualified for the prestigious end of season grand finals?
The Grand Finals
The Grand Finals were held in Macao, China from 11-14 December 2008 and with all the Pro-Tour events completed, the players who had accumulated the most points in the men's singles were as follows:
| Rank | Elig | Points | Events | Continents | Player | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 67200 | 6 | 1 | MA Lin | CHN | |
| NE | 62000 | 5 | 2 | BOLL Timo | GER | |
| 2 | 59200 | 6 | 1 | WANG Hao | CHN | |
| 3 | 56900 | 6 | 3 | SAMSONOV Vladimir | BLR | |
| 4 | 54600 | 7 | 1 | MA Long | CHN | |
| 5 | 31675 | 10 | 3 | CHUANG Chih-Yuan | TPE | |
| 6 | 27300 | 7 | 1 | CHEN Qi | CHN | |
| 7 | 25500 | 7 | 1 | WANG Liqin | CHN | |
| 8 | 24800 | 10 | 3 | JIANG Tianyi | HKG | |
| 9 | 23800 | 6 | 2 | RYU Seung Min | KOR | |
| 10 | 18600 | 8 | 3 | CHEUNG Yuk | HKG | |
| 11 | 17575 | 7 | 2 | YOON Jae Young | KOR | |
| 12 | 17050 | 7 | 3 | LI Ching | HKG | |
| 13 | 17000 | 7 | 2 | MAZE Michael | DEN | |
| NE | 15650 | 2 | 1 | HAO Shuai | CHN | |
| NE | 13650 | 5 | 1 | ZHANG Jike | CHN | |
| 14 | 13450 | 7 | 2 | OVTCHAROV Dimitrij | GER | |
| 15 | 13050 | 7 | 1 | JOO Se Hyuk | KOR | |
| 16 | Invitation place for a Home Association player |
LEONG Kin Wa | MAC | |||
But even though Timo Boll, Hao Shuai and Zhang Jike had accumulated sufficient Grand Prix points, they didn't meet the additional qualifying criteria of competing in at least six tournaments or playing on at least three continents.
So unfortunately they weren't eligible to take part in the prestigious end of season grand final.
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So, here are the results of the...
2008 ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals
Round One
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| MA Lin | 4-2 | JOO Se Hyuk |
| CHEN Qi | 4-0 | RYU Seung Min |
| WANG Liqin | 4-1 | CHEUNG Yuk |
| MA Long | 4-0 | YOON Jae Young |
| SAMSONOV Vladimir | 4-0 | OVTCHAROV Dimitrij |
| JIANG Tianyi | 4-2 | LI Ching |
| CHUANG Chih-Yuan | 4-0 | LEONG Kin Wa |
| WANG Hao | 4-0 | MAZE Michael |
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Quarter Finals
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| MA Lin | 4-3 | CHEN Qi |
| MA Long | 4-0 | WANG Liqin |
| SAMSONOV Vladimir | 4-1 | JIANG Tianyi |
| WANG Hao | 4-1 | CHUANG Chih-Yuan |
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Semi Finals
| Winner | Result | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| MA Long | 4-1 | MA Lin |
| WANG Hao | 4-0 | SAMSONOV Vladimir |
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Final
| Winner | Result | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| MA Long | 4-0 | WANG Hao |
| 13-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5 |
by courtesy of the ITTF
Ma Long
Winner of the 2008 ITTF Pro-Tour Final
You can read more about the ITTF Pro-Tour here.
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