The US$250,000 WTT Goa Stars Challenge will kick off with the southern Indian city of Goa on the 23rd of this month, with a singles prize fund of up to US$40,000, with the highest-seeded player in the women's singles being Shin Yubin (ninth) and the highest-seeded player in the men's singles being Hugo (sixth).
The final WTT event of the month, Goa, India, will be contested from the 23rd to the 28th, with two stages, the qualifying round and the main event, with 600 singles points and a prize of $35,000 for the champion. The top 8 players in the women's singles world did not participate, and the top 5 players in the men's singles world were absent.
Tomokazu Haramoto and Hina Hayata, the men's and women's singles champions and mixed doubles runners-up in Goa 2023, are also absent from Goa this year. The reason for her absence is embarrassing, according to Japan's Hina Hayata's recollection, she was almost "raped" here in 2023. India is a notoriously rape country, with chaotic social order and women's safety. According to Hayata's recollection, when she returned to the hotel for the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles, she was followed at the hotel, and she was in a bad mood and depressed that night, causing the mixed doubles to be missed.
There's a reason why China and Japan were absent from the Goa Star Challenge this time. Goa has become the world of South Korea, and many European players in the men's singles will participate, with Ocharov, Darko, and Qiu Dang all competing with South Korea for the men's singles championship. In the Women's Singles, South Korea dominates the tournament, with Tian Zhixi and Shin Yubin, who have just won the Women's Singles Challenger in Doha, and will compete in all the singles, doubles and mixed doubles.