Not long after the end of the WTT Singapore Grand Slam, the new competition schedule has been released - according to the official website of the World Table Tennis Federation, the list of athletes and seeds for the WTT Incheon Championship at the end of March has been announced, which has attracted the attention of fans.
It is worth mentioning that this time the official did not use the latest world rankings to determine the seeding ranking, so the top four seeds in men's singles are Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, Ma Long, Liang Jingkun, and the top four seeds in women's singles are Sun Yingsha, Wang Yidi, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, but the rankings of the remaining seven national table tennis players except Sun Yingsha have already changed, please see below for more details.
The championship is a high-level event of the WTT World Table Tennis Federation, although it is not comparable to the Grand Slam, but the athletes who win the singles championship can also get 1,000 points and 15,000 US dollars in bonuses, which is already very good in table tennis, so in the national table tennis Olympic selection system, the results of the championship are also within the scope of the coaching staff's inspection, as long as they can reach the semi-finals, they can get points.
Different from before, according to the new rules announced by the coaching staff, starting from this championship, the national table tennis players who lose foreign wars will be deducted a certain number of Olympic points, so the main forces are also facing heavy pressure, and whether they can play their level normally has attracted attention.
Due to the registration conditions, the national table tennis team in this championship can only send a maximum of four men and four women to participate in the competition, and it is invited according to the world ranking at the beginning of the competition, not the 12th week ranking on March 19, 2024. With the WTT Singapore Grand Slam coming to an end, everyone's points and rankings have already changed.
In men's singles, Fan Zhendong, who had been ranked world No. 1 for a long time, has now been relegated to second, the former No. 2 Wang Chuqin (Grand Slam) has been promoted to No. 1, and the former No. 3 Ma Long and No. 4 Liang Jingkun have also swapped places.
In women's singles, there has been no change in the first place Sun Yingsha, but the second place Wang Yidi at the beginning of the registration has now dropped to third, the original third place Chen Meng has dropped to fourth, and Wang Manyu has risen from fourth to second.
Interestingly, although seven of the above eight have changed their rankings, they are still in the top four in men's and women's singles, which can also reflect their strength is indeed the top in table tennis. The other two main players of national table tennis, Lin Gaoyuan and Chen Xingtong, were originally the fifth in the team, and Qian Tianyi and others were even further behind, and they finally missed the opportunity to participate in this event.
In Men's Singles, the fifth to eighth seeds in Men's Singles are Felix, Hugo, Lin Yunru and Tomokazu Zhangmoto, followed by Qiu Dang, Ocharov, Zhang Yuzhen, Darko, Moregaard, Carlberg, Lim Jong-xun and Freitas.
The top 16 seeds in the women's singles also include Hina Hayata, Shin Yubin, Zheng Yijing, Diaz, Szokos, Yang Xiaoxin, Misei Ito, Zhu Qianxi, Miwa Zhangmoto, Mitham, Miu Hirano and Yuan Jianan.
Following the Busan World Table Tennis Championships, all the masters of the table tennis world will gather in South Korea, so let's continue to cheer for the Chinese team!