On February 23, Beijing time, the official website of the International Table Tennis Federation updated the latest roster of WTT Singapore Grand Slam Station. In the latest big list, the national table tennis rival, the German men's singles world champion Ocha, has announced his retirement. With Ochcha's retirement, he has not competed in the ITTF tournament for four consecutive months. I wish Ocha can return to the field as soon as possible and play against the main players of national table tennis.
On his latest social platform, German men's singles world champion Ocha said: Friends, I regret that I have encountered a little setback in the process of recovery, and I need to rest for a few more weeks. In addition, Ocha said that during this time, he will recover 100% of his state as soon as possible.
German world champion Ocha has previously missed the Houston World Table Tennis Championships and the Singapore World Cup due to a knee injury. In the next first WTT Singapore Grand Slam tournament, Ocha also chose to be absent. Ocha can be called one of the fierce opponents of national table tennis, the world ranking once ranked first, defeated the national table tennis Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Lin Gaoyuan and other main players.
At last year's Tokyo Olympics, Ocha successfully advanced to the men's singles semifinals, fought with the national table tennis Grand Slam Malone for seven sets, and finally lost out. However, in the men's singles bronze medal competition, Ocha won the Olympic men's singles bronze medal with a wealth of experience and solid technical tactics to defeat Chinese Taipei's Lin Yunru. However, he has not played in international competitions for four months due to injury.
With the retirement of world champion Ochea, veteran Bohr became the mainstay of the German men's team. It is worth mentioning that Bohr has just become the best male athlete of the year of the German Table Tennis Association. Bohr said 2021 was the most successful year of his career. Winning the championship with Dussay, the Olympic medals are also particularly beautiful. At the Singapore Grand Slam station, the German men's team Pol, Qiu Dang, Francesca and Phyllis all competed.
It is worth mentioning that the WTT Singapore Grand Slam tournament features 64 players from each of the men's and women's singles, including the top 50 players in the world rankings. 24 pairs of men's and women's doubles pairs competed, including the world's top 20 combinations. Mixed doubles 16 pairs compete, including the world's top 14 combinations. Fan Zhendong, the top seed in men's singles, will hit the men's singles champion of the Open Tournament.
At present, the rules of the Singapore tournament have been released, and the singles from the qualifier to the quarter-final adopts a 5-game 3-win format, and the semi-finals and finals use a 7-game 4-win format. The men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles were all played on a 5-set, 3-win format. The tournament starts on March 11 and the men's singles champion will receive $100,000.