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Men's World Cup 2018
The Men's World Cup 2018 took place in Paris, France from 19-21 October 2018.
But who qualified for this prestigious table tennis event?
By Martin Hughes
Owner and Editor
The 2018 Men's World Cup was played in Paris, France at DEA (Disney Event Arena), Avenue Paul SERAMY, 77000 CHESSY, France from 19-21 October 2018.
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 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 was played from 28-30 September 2018 in China, but I'll be focusing on the Men's competition here.
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So...
How did players qualify for 2018 Men's World Cup
Twenty players qualified for the 2018 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 took part in the LIEBHERR Men's World Cup 2018...
| No. | World Ranking as at July 2018 |
Player Family Name, Given Name (Association) |
How Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | FAN, Zhendong (China) | Asian Cup Winner |
| 2 | 10 | CALDERANO, Hugo (Brazil) | Pan Am Cup Winner |
| 3 | 41 | TSUBOI, Gustavo (Brazil) | Pan Am Cup (2nd player) |
| 4 | 178 | HU, Heming (Australia) | Oceania Cup Winner |
| 5 | 2 | BOLL, Timo (Germany) | Europe Cup Winner |
| 6 | 7 | LEE, Sangsu (South Korea) | Asian Cup 3rd place |
| 7 | 24 | JEONG, Sangeun (South Korea) | Asian Cup 4th place |
| 8 | 4 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij (Germany) | Europe Cup 2nd place |
| 9 | 17 | GROTH, Jonathan (Denmark) | Europe Cup 3rd place |
| 10 | 8 | HARIMOTO, Tomokazu (Japan) | Asian Cup 5th place |
| 11 | 12 | NIWA, Koki (Japan) | Asian Cup 6th place |
| 12 | 9 | WONG, Chun Ting (Hong Kong China) | Asian Cup 7th place |
| 13 | 20 | ARUNA, Quadri (Nigeria) | Africa Cup 2nd place |
| 14 | 25 | SAMSONOV, Vladimir (Belarus) | Europe Cup 4th place |
| 15 | 18 | FALCK, Mattias (Sweden) | Europe Cup 5-8th place |
| 16 | 64 | JHA, Kanak (USA) | Pan Am Cup 3rd place |
| 17 | 11 | GAUZY, Simon (France) | Host Association nomination |
| 18 | 33 | LEBESSON, Emmanuel (France) | ITTF wild card |
| 19 | 67 | GIONIS, Panagiotis (Greece) | Europe Cup 5-8th place (sub) |
| 20 | 3 | LIN, Gaoyuan (China) | Asian Cup 2nd place (sub) |
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So let's take a look at the...
Playing format for 2018
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.
Players from the same Association 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 2018 World Cup was US$ 250,000
This was divided up as follows:
| Winner | US$ 60,000 |
| Runner-up | US$ 40,000 |
| 3rd Place | US$ 20,000 |
| 4th Place | US$ 14,000 |
| Places 5-8 | US$ 10,000 |
| Places 9-16 | US$ 7,000 |
| Places 17-20 | US$ 5,000 |
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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 2018.
The balls being used were Double Happiness 3 star plastic D40+, and the red flooring was by Enlio.
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So let's take a look at the...
Seedings
The seedings were as follows...
| Seed | Player Family Name, Given Name |
World Ranking (Oct 2018) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FAN, Zhendong | 1 |
| 2 | BOLL, Timo | 3 |
| 3 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4 |
| 4 | LIN, Gaoyuan | 5 |
| 5 | LEE, Sangsu | 7 |
| 6 | HARIMOTO, Tomokazu | 8 |
| 7 | WONG, Chun Ting | 9 |
| 8 | NIWA, Koki | 10 |
| 9 | CALDERANO, Hugo | 11 |
| 10 | GAUZY, Simon | 16 |
| 11 | JEONG, Sangeun | 17 |
| 12 | GROTH, Jonathan | 18 |
| 13 | FALCK, Mattias | 19 |
| 14 | ARUNA, Quadri | 21 |
| 15 | SAMSONOV, Vladimir | 30 |
| 16 | TSUBOI, Gustavo | 48 |
| 17 | LEBESSON, Emmanuel | 50 |
| 18 | JHA, Kanak | 67 |
| 19 | GIONIS, Panagiotis | 70 |
| 20 | HU, Heming | 170 |
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So let's now see who played in...
Stage 1
The draw for stage one was made on Thursday 18 October 2018.
Group A
- CALDERANO, Hugo (Brazil)
- SAMSONOV, Vladimir (Belarus)
- LEBESSON, Emmanuel (France)
Group B
- GAUZY, Simon (France)
- ARUNA, Quadri (Nigeria)
- JHA, Kanak (USA)
Group C
- JEONG, Sangeun (South Korea)
- TSUBOI, Gustavo (Brazil)
- GIONIS, Panagiotis (Greece)
Group D
- GROTH, Jonathan (Denmark)
- FALCK, Mattias (Sweden)
- HU, Heming (Australia)
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And here are the...
Results for Stage 1 of the World Cup 2018
Friday 19 October 2018
Group A
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| LEBESSON, Emmanuel | 4-3 | CALDERANO, Hugo |
| 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8 | ||
| SAMSONOV, Vladimir | 4-1 | CALDERANO, Hugo |
| 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12, 13-11 | ||
| SAMSONOV, Vladimir | 4-2 | LEBESSON, Emmanuel |
| 11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-3, 13-11 |
Group A winner = SAMSONOV, Vladimir
Group A runner-up = LEBESSON, Emmanuel
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Group B
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| GAUZY, Simon | 4-0 | JHA, Kanak |
| 11-6, 12-10, 13-11, 11-9 | ||
| GAUZY, Simon | 4-3 | ARUNA, Quadri |
| 7-11, 10-12, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 | ||
| JHA, Kanak | 4-2 | ARUNA, Quadri |
| 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 |
Group B winner = GAUZY, Simon
Group B runner-up = JHA, Kanak
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Group C
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| JEONG, Sangeun | 4-1 | GIONIS, Panagiotis |
| 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-4 | ||
| JEONG, Sangeun | 4-0 | TSUBOI, Gustavo |
| 11-5, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 | ||
| TSUBOI, Gustavo | 4-1 | GIONIS, Panagiotis |
| 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8 |
Group C winner = JEONG, Sangeun
Group C runner-up = TSUBOI, Gustavo
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Group D
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| GROTH, Jonathan | 4-0 | HU, Heming |
| 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4 | ||
| GROTH, Jonathan | 4-3 | FALCK, Mattias |
| 4-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8 | ||
| FALCK, Mattias | 4-0 | HU, Heming |
| 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 |
Group D winner = GROTH, Jonathan
Group D runner-up = FALCK, Mattias
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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 2018
The draw was made on Friday 19 October 2018 for stage 2.
Last 16
Saturday 20 October 2018
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| FAN, Zhendong | 4-0 | TSUBOI, Gustavo |
| 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 | ||
| SAMSONOV, Vladimir | 4-1 | WONG, Chun Ting |
| 11-6, 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7 | ||
| NIWA, Koki | 4-1 | GROTH, Jonathan |
| 11-8, 11-5, 4-11, 12-10, 11-5 | ||
| LIN, Gaoyuan | 4-1 | JHA, Kanak |
| 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 | ||
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4-3 | FALCK, Mattias |
| 11-5, 4-11, 7-11, 13-11, 11-3, 5-11, 12-10 | ||
| LEE, Sangsu | 4-3 | GAUZY, Simon |
| 11-6, 4-11, 6-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8 | ||
| HARIMOTO, Tomokazu | 4-0 | JEONG, Sangeun |
| 11-6, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 | ||
| BOLL, Timo | 4-1 | LEBESSON, Emmanuel |
| 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 |
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Quarter Finals
Saturday 20 October 2018
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| FAN, Zhendong | 4-0 | SAMSONOV, Vladimir |
| 11-3, 11-6, 12-10, 11-6 | ||
| LIN, Gaoyuan | 4-1 | NIWA, Koki |
| 12-10, 5-11, 14-12, 11-9, 11-5 | ||
| OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij | 4-3 | LEE, Sangsu |
| 11-7, 11-5, 11-13, 9-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5 | ||
| BOLL, Timo | 4-1 | HARIMOTO, Tomokazu |
| 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-5, 11-9 |
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The 4 winners then progressed to the...
Semi Finals of the World Cup 2018
Sunday 21 October 2018
| WINNER | Result | LOSER |
|---|---|---|
| FAN, Zhendong | 4-1 | LIN, Gaoyuan |
| 10-12, 12-10, 15-13, 11-7, 11-6 | ||
| BOLL, Timo | 4-2 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij |
| 12-14, 11-7, 15-13, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5 |
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3rd / 4th Place Match
Sunday 21 October 2018
| 3rd PLACE | Result | 4th PLACE |
|---|---|---|
| LIN, Gaoyuan | 4-1 | OVTCHAROV, Dimitrij |
| 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-3 |
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Final of World Cup 2018
Sunday 21 October 2018
| WINNER | Result | RUNNER-UP |
|---|---|---|
| FAN, Zhendong | 4-1 | BOLL, Timo |
| 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8 |
Fan Zhendong celebrates the winning point
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Fan Zhendong with the World Cup trophy
Timo Boll - runner up
Lin Gaoyuan - third place
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