On January 9th, Beijing time, the table tennis WTT Doha Star Challenge entered the second day of competition, according to the schedule, the qualifying round will be held on January 8-9, and the main match will be contested from January 10th to 13th.
This event is the first event of the 2024 new season in which all members of the national table tennis team participate, and it is also the last event in which the main force of the national table tennis participates before the Busan Team World Table Tennis Championships, so this event will attract the attention of many fans!
A total of 16 players were sent to participate in the national table tennis singles, in addition to the top ten main players, the remaining 3 members of the men's team were Lin Shidong, Zhou Qihao, and Yuan Licen, and the remaining 3 members of the women's team were Qian Tianyi, Zhang Rui, and Kuo Man.
In the first round of the qualifying tournament that ended on January 8, Yuan Licen swept Belgium's Larsenforth Foss 3-0, and in the second round of the qualifying round on the second match day on January 9, Yuan Licen will face Chinese Taipei's Yang Ziyi, if he wins, he will also play the third round of the qualifying round, and if he wins, he will be able to advance to the main competition, I wish Yuan Licen good luck!
Let's take a closer look at the much-anticipated singles draw for fans, starting with the women's singles draw. All 7 participants in the national table tennis women's singles advanced to the main event, and the top 16 seeds had a bye in the first round of the main event, so all 7 national table tennis women's singles players started from the second round of the main tournament (1/16 finals).
Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi, as the top two seeds of the tournament, fell into the 1/4 and 4/4 zones respectively. In the 1/4 zone, the 3 Japanese participants Hina Hayata, Miwa Zhangmoto, and Miyu Nagasaki are all gathered here, so Sun Yingsha is likely to face all Japanese players before the 1/4 finals.
Women's singles second seed Wang Yidi has a better signing, at least the pressure of foreign war is not as great as Sun Yingsha, and the more well-known foreign association players in the same district are Monaco Chinese veteran Yang Xiaoxin and French Chinese veteran Yuan Jianan. It is worth mentioning that national table tennis players Qian Tianyi and Kuo Man are also in the 4/4 area.
Women's singles No. 3 seed Wang Manyu fell in the 2/4 zone, and there is also national table tennis Chen Xingtong in the same district, you must know that in the two major competitions of the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban last year and the women's finals at the end of the year, Wang Manyu was all blocked by Chen Xingtong from the top 4 of the women's singles, I have to say that Wang Manyu met the signing. Foreign Association players, Romanian veteran Samara, and Chinese Taipei star Zheng Yijing are also in this area.
Women's singles No. 4 seed Chen Meng is in the 3/4 zone, national table tennis player Zhang Rui is also in this zone, among the players of the foreign association, South Korean Chinese star Zhu Qianxi, German Chinese chipping star Han Ying and other well-known players, will create some trouble for the national table tennis players, from the national table tennis five main players to draw the table, Chen Meng is drawn.
You must know that this event is very important for Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, including Wang Yidi, because it has been mentioned at the beginning that this event is the last international event for the main players of national table tennis to participate in before the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea, which is related to the world ranking of the above three people.
If you can rank in the top three in the women's singles world before the Busan World Table Tennis Championships, then according to the rules formulated by the national table tennis team before, you can play in the Busan Team World Table Tennis Championships, so that you can get the national table tennis Paris Olympics selection points, which will be of great help to get the singles quota for the Paris Olympics. Therefore, in this event, the internal competition of the above 3 players in national table tennis will be very fierce!
From the current point of view, the signing of Wang Yidi and Chen Meng is better than that of Wang Manyu, Wang Manyu wants to advance to the finals, and there is a high probability that he needs to step over Chen Xingtong and Sun Yingsha, the two main players of national table tennis, so this event will be an important test for Wang Manyu. Chen Meng and Wang Yidi want to achieve good results, and they can't take it lightly, so far this event is very interesting.
Next, let's look at the men's singles draw table, the top two seeds in the men's singles, Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin, are in the 1/4 and 4/4 zones respectively. Lin Shidong is also in the 1/4 zone, and among the players in the foreign association, France's Alex Lebrun, South Korea's Lee Sang-so, Lim Zhongxun, and Slovenia's Darko are all in this zone, so it is not easy to break through from this zone and advance to the men's singles semi-finals.
Wang Chuqin's 4/4 area is relatively better, the national table tennis player Zhou Qihao is also in this area, and among the players in the foreign association, Brazilian player Hugo, German Chinese star Qiu Dang, and "African brother" Aruna are all in this area, but the above players are not too threatening to Wang Chuqin.
Men's singles No. 3 seed Ma Long fell in the 3/4 zone, and Lin Gaoyuan is still in the same district as the Dragons, the two are likely to meet in the semifinals, you must know that the two have just been in the same district in the men's finals, when Lin Gaoyuan eliminated Ma Long 3-2, this is also Lin Gaoyuan's first victory over Ma Long in the international arena, and now the two have fallen into the same district again, it is indeed too coincidental!
Men's Singles No. 4 seed Liang Jingkun needs to fight against the Japanese in a row, because Japan's three players who directly qualified for the main draw Tomokazu Zhangmoto, Hayasuke Togami, and Teruma Matsushima are all in the 2/4 zone. However, in the quarterfinals, Zhang Benzhihe is likely to face Chinese Taipei star Lin Yunru, and this matchup is also quite interesting.
In the top 8 matches, Liang Jingkun is likely to meet Japanese player Hayasuke Togami, the two met in the men's singles final of the Taiyuan Regular Challenge last year, when the two fought 7 games, Liang Jingkun scored 3 points in a row to complete the reversal when he was 9-10 behind in the deciding game, which left a very deep impression on many fans. Therefore, this event will encounter certain challenges for Da Fat.
The lineup of the Doha Star Challenge is full of stars, comparable to the World Table Tennis Championships, and the competition process will be very exciting! I hope that every national table tennis player can have an outstanding performance and defend the glory of the national ball in a foreign country!