In late April, the 2024 Olympic ITTF Singles World Cup has just come to an end, and the WTT Saudi Arabia Table Tennis Grand Slam will follow in early May. Considering that the list of the Chinese table tennis team for the 2024 Paris Olympics is about to be announced, the attention of this event is extremely high.
Malone
The WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam will feature five events: Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles. At the same time, the championship points are as high as 2,000 points, so it attracts top players from all over the world. The Chinese team also sent all the first-team lineups to participate in the competition.
The specific list of participants of the Chinese table tennis team is as follows:
In the men's team, Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, and Lin Shidong played;
In the women's team, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, Wang Yidi, Chen Xingtong and Qian Tianyi will appear together.
All 12 players will compete in the singles competition.
In addition, Ma Long/Wang Chuqin and Lin Gaoyuan/Liang Jingkun will compete in Men's Doubles, Chen Meng/Wang Manyu and Chen Xingtong/Wang Yidi will compete in Women's Doubles, and Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha will partner in Mixed Doubles.
The world's first sister Sun Yingsha
In the ITTF Singles World Cup a week ago, the Chinese table tennis team once again showed its dominance and won the men's and women's singles championships.
Among them, the performance of the veteran Malone made the fans feel very excited. The 35-year-old, five-time Olympic gold medallist, won the World Cup singles title for the third time in nine years (having previously won in 2012 and 2015). Not only are Ma Long's results impressive, but also the technical breakthroughs he has shown in this tournament are also impressive. After a two-week break, I believe that the opponent is also familiar with his new style of play. It is worth looking forward to whether Malone can continue his good momentum and continue to surprise fans in the game.
Wang Chuqin has secured the men's singles world No. 1 ranking with his excellent results in the last two years. So far this year, he has won the men's singles titles at the 2023 Finals (January 2024), the WTT Star Challenge Doha and the Singapore Grand Slam. In the Saudi Grand Slam tournament, whether Wang Chuqin can get out of the shadow of the 0-4 loss to Ma Long in the semifinals of the World Cup and return strongly is a major attraction. In addition, Wang Chuqin's competition in this event has three men's singles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles, which is a huge test of physical fitness.
Wang Manyu, ranked second in the world
In women's singles, Sun Yingsha defeated Wang Manyu in the final of the World Cup in Macau to reach the top, winning the World Cup singles championship for the first time in her career. It remains to be seen whether Sasha, who is far ahead in points and is ranked No. 1 in the world, can show her domineering strength again and take the championship from Saudi Arabia.
World No.2 Wang Manyu has been in fine form this season, winning the Singapore Grand Slam and runners-up at the World Cup and WTT Incheon Championships, as well as performing well at the Team World Championships in Busan. Will Wang Manyu, who has a very high win rate against non-Chinese players, continue his hot form in Saudi Arabia?
The mixed doubles side can be seen as a rehearsal for the Paris Olympics. A total of 24 pairs participated, with only one pair from each association entering. After losing the mixed doubles gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Chinese table tennis team attaches great importance to the mixed doubles event. It will be interesting to see whether the world's No. 1 "Shatou" combination can withstand the impact of high-level combinations from other countries and regions.
WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam: Schedule
All times are Beijing time
May 1
- 15:30: Qualifying round 1
May 2nd
- 15:30: Qualifying round 1 and 2
May 3rd
- 15:30: Qualifying rounds 2 and 3
May 4th
- 15:00: Men's Singles Round of 64, Women's Singles Round of 64, Mixed Doubles Round of 24
- 22:00: Men's Singles Round of 64, Women's Singles Round of 64, Mixed Doubles Round of 24
May 5th
- 15:30: Women's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Singles Round of 64, Women's Singles Round of 64
- 22:00: Women's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Singles Round of 64, Women's Singles Round of 64
May 6th
- 15:30: Women's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Singles Round of 32, Women's Singles Round of 32, Mixed Doubles Round of 16
- 22:00: Women's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Doubles Round of 24, Men's Singles Round of 32, Women's Singles Round of 32, Mixed Doubles Round of 16
May 7th
- 15:30: Mixed Doubles quarterfinals, Men's Doubles round of 16, Women's Doubles round of 16, Men's Singles round of 32, Women's Singles round of 32
- 22:00: Mixed Doubles quarter-finals, Men's Doubles round of 16, Women's Doubles round of 16, Men's Singles round of 32, Women's Singles round of 32
May 8th
- 15:30: Mixed Doubles Semifinals, Men's Doubles Quarterfinals, Women's Doubles Quarterfinals, Men's Singles Round of 16, Women's Singles Round of 16
- 22:00: Mixed Doubles Semifinals, Men's Doubles Quarterfinals, Women's Doubles Quarterfinals, Men's Singles Round of 16, Women's Singles Round of 16
May 9th
- 19:00: Women's Doubles Semifinals, Men's Doubles Semifinals, Women's Singles Quarterfinals, Men's Singles Quarterfinals, Mixed Doubles Finals
May 10th
- 19:00: Women's Doubles Final, Men's Doubles Final, Men's Singles Semifinals, Women's Singles Semifinals
May 11th
- 19:00: Women's Singles final, Men's Singles final