WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam 2024 event report
1. Overview of the event
From May 4 to 11, 2024, the World Table Tennis Professional League (WTT) Saudi Arabia Grand Slam kicked off at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As one of the four major professional table tennis tournaments, this Grand Slam tournament attracted top players from all over the world, including the main squad of the Chinese team. The tournament consists of five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles, with a total of 64 people competing in singles and 24 people competing in doubles. Local players will also be eligible for the host country's wildcard status and compete with the world's best players.
The holding of the event is not only a huge promotion of Saudi Arabia's sports industry, but also will become the last "test" of table tennis stars before the Olympic Games. In the singles and team selections for the Paris Olympics, the results of this Grand Slam will play a pivotal role. All the masters are going all out to achieve the ideal results.
Second, the lineup of the Chinese team
In order to achieve excellent results in the Saudi competition, the Chinese table tennis team sent Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Lin Shidong and other main men's teams, as well as Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi, Chen Xingtong, Qian Tianyi and other women's team powerhouses, with a strong lineup.
In the singles event, Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and others will represent the Chinese men's team respectively; Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng and others will show the style of the women's team. In doubles, Ma Long/Wang Chuqin and Liang Jingkun/Lin Gaoyuan will play in Men's Doubles; Chen Meng/Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi/Chen Xingtong will compete in the Women's Doubles. Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha will compete in the mixed doubles together.
3. Competition for Olympic qualification
For the Chinese team, this Saudi Grand Slam tournament is about qualifying for the singles Olympic Games in Paris 2024. According to the regulations of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, the deadline for the selection of women's singles Olympic Games has been adjusted to the end of the Saudi Grand Slam. The top two women's singles players will qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Before the match, Sun Yingsha had basically locked in a women's singles qualification with her outstanding performance in the past. The remaining spot will be an internal battle between Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi. The trio's performance in Saudi Arabia will directly determine who will represent China in the Olympic women's singles event with Sun Yingsha.
Fourth, the national table tennis prepares for the Olympics
For the Chinese table tennis team, this Saudi Grand Slam is the last heavyweight warm-up match in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In this "thorough examination", the national table tennis not only needs to check the current state of the players, but also to find and solve the existing problems in a timely manner, so as to make the final sprint preparation for the Olympic Games.
The doubles lineup arrangement of the Chinese table tennis team in this event is quite interesting. In Men's Doubles, Wang Chuqin played alongside Ma Long instead of world No. 2 Fan Zhendong; In Women's Doubles, Chen Meng/Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi/Chen Xing will play as two pairs. These arrangements are undoubtedly a warm-up for the team event, allowing the coaching staff to observe the level of cooperation between the different partners in advance, so as to develop the best strategy for the Games.
5. Prize money and points
This year's Saudi Grand Slam has recorded record highs in prize money and points. The men's and women's singles champions will receive a whopping $65,000 and 2,000 world ranking points, respectively. This is undoubtedly a great opportunity for the main players of the Chinese team to reap the rewards of great returns.
During the event, the Chinese team achieved good results in various individual competitions, especially Wang Chuqin, who won the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles championships alone, with a total prize fund of 530,000 yuan. Chen Meng is also a big winner, she not only won the women's singles event, but also won the women's doubles championship with Wang Manyu, with a personal bonus of 500,000 yuan.
6. The latest progress of the event
After a week of intense competition, the WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam 2024 will conclude on May 11. In this top table tennis event, the Chinese team swept all five individual championships, once again showing its dominating strength.
In the women's singles final, Chen Meng defeated teammate Sun Yingsha with a total score of 4:2 after a thrilling battle and won the championship. The victory not only sealed Chen Meng's qualification for the women's singles at the Paris Olympics, but also earned her 2,000 valuable world ranking points and a whopping US$65,000 in prize money.
In the men's singles final, world No. 1 Wang Chuqin was also the protagonist, and he defeated Germany's Francesca with an aggregate score of 4:2 to defend the Saudi Arabian Grand Slam men's singles title. Wang Chuqin also teamed up with Sun Yingsha and Ma Long to win the mixed doubles and men's doubles titles.
Based on the outstanding performance of this event, the Chinese Table Tennis Association officially announced the list of participants for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on May 14: Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng for women's singles, Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong for men's singles, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha for mixed doubles, Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Liang Jingkun for men's team (substitutes, and Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi (substitutes) for women's teams.