2018 ITTF Men's World Cup

The 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup was a table tennis competition held in Paris, France, from 19 to 21 October 2018. It was the 39th edition of the ITTF-sanctioned event, and the third time that it had been staged in Paris.[1]

2018 ITTF Men's World Cup
VenueDisneyland Paris
LocationParis, France
Date19–21 October
Competitors20 from 14 nations
Websitett2018paris.com
Medalists
gold medal 
silver medal 
bronze medal 
← 2017
2019 →

In the final, China's Fan Zhendong defeated Timo Boll of Germany, 4–1, to win his second World Cup title.[2]

Qualification

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In total, 20 players qualified for the World Cup:[3][4]

  • 18 players from the five Continental Cups held during 2018
  • A host association representative
  • A wild card, selected by the ITTF

A maximum of two players from each association could qualify.

As reigning World Champion, China's Ma Long was invited to take part, but withdrew prior to the event. His place was taken by Lin Gaoyuan.[5]

Means of qualification Date Venue Places Qualified players
2018 Europe Top 16 Cup 3–4 February 2018   Montreux 3   Timo Boll
  Dimitrij Ovtcharov
  Jonathan Groth
2018 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup 1–3 March 2018   Nairobi 1   Quadri Aruna[nb 1]
2018 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup 6–8 April 2018   Yokohama 3   Fan Zhendong
  Lin Gaoyuan
  Lee Sang-su
2018 ITTF-Oceania Cup 18–19 May 2018   Port Vila 1   Hu Heming
2018 ITTF Pan-America Cup 15–17 June 2018   Asunción 2   Hugo Calderano
  Gustavo Tsuboi
Additional qualifiers[nb 2] n/a n/a 8   Jeong Sang-eun
  Tomokazu Harimoto
  Koki Niwa
  Wong Chun Ting
  Vladimir Samsonov
  Mattias Falck
  Kanak Jha
  Panagiotis Gionis
Host association representative n/a n/a 1   Simon Gauzy
ITTF wild card n/a n/a 1   Emmanuel Lebesson
Total 20
Notes
  1. ^ Egypt's Omar Assar won the Africa Cup, but Quadri Aruna (as runner-up) qualified for the World Cup as the Africa Cup representative when Assar withdrew.
  2. ^ Based on Continental Cup finishing position and ITTF World Ranking on 1 July 2018.

Competition format

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The tournament consisted of two stages: a preliminary group stage and a knockout stage. The players seeded 9 to 20 were drawn into four groups, with three players in each group. The top two players from each group joined the top eight seeded players in the second stage of the competition, which consisted of a knockout draw.[3]

Seeding

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The seeding list was based on the official ITTF world ranking for October 2018.[3]

  1.   Fan Zhendong (champion)
  2.   Timo Boll (final)
  3.   Dimitrij Ovtcharov (semifinals)
  4.   Lin Gaoyuan (semifinals)
  5.   Lee Sang-su (quarterfinals)
  6.   Tomokazu Harimoto (quarterfinals)
  7.   Wong Chun Ting (first round)
  8.   Koki Niwa (quarterfinals)
  9.   Hugo Calderano (preliminary round)
  10.   Simon Gauzy (first round)
  11.   Jeong Sang-eun (first round)
  12.   Jonathan Groth (first round)
  13.   Mattias Falck (first round)
  14.   Quadri Aruna (preliminary round)
  15.   Vladimir Samsonov (quarterfinals)
  16.   Gustavo Tsuboi (first round)
  17.   Emmanuel Lebesson (first round)
  18.   Kanak Jha (first round)
  19.   Panagiotis Gionis (preliminary round)
  20.   Hu Heming (preliminary round)

Preliminary stage

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The preliminary group stage took place on 19 October, with the top two players in each group progressing to the main draw.[6]

Main draw

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The knockout stage took place from 20–21 October.[7]

First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
1   Fan Zhendong 11 11 11 11
16   Gustavo Tsuboi 7 9 6 8 1   Fan Zhendong 11 11 12 11
15   Vladimir Samsonov 11 12 11 7 11 15   Vladimir Samsonov 3 6 10 6
7   Wong Chun Ting 6 10 9 11 7 1   Fan Zhendong 10 12 15 11 11
8   Koki Niwa 11 11 4 12 11 4   Lin Gaoyuan 12 10 13 7 6
12   Jonathan Groth 8 5 11 10 5 8   Koki Niwa 10 11 12 9 5
18   Kanak Jha 8 11 7 6 3 4   Lin Gaoyuan 12 5 14 11 11
4   Lin Gaoyuan 11 6 11 11 11 1   Fan Zhendong 11 11 11 9 11
3   Dimitrij Ovtcharov 11 4 7 13 11 5 12 2   Timo Boll 9 5 6 11 8
13   Mattias Falck 5 11 11 11 3 11 10 3   Dimitrij Ovtcharov 11 11 11 9 5 11 11
10   Simon Gauzy 6 11 11 7 11 8 8 5   Lee Sang-su 7 5 13 11 11 5 5
5   Lee Sang-su 11 4 6 11 6 11 11 3   Dimitrij Ovtcharov 14 7 13 11 11 5 Third place
6   Tomokazu Harimoto 11 11 11 11 2   Timo Boll 12 11 15 9 13 11
11   Jeong Sang-eun 6 6 7 7 6   Tomokazu Harimoto 11 3 11 5 9 4   Lin Gaoyuan 11 11 9 11 11
17   Emmanuel Lebesson 8 11 8 5 7 2   Timo Boll 9 11 13 11 11 3   Dimitrij Ovtcharov 7 9 11 4 3
2   Timo Boll 11 8 11 11 11

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Return to France, return to Paris". ITTF. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Dreamland for Fan Zhendong". ITTF. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Qualification and Playing System / Men's and Women's World Cup" (PDF). ITTF. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Confirmed list of players Liebherr 2018 ITTF Men ́s World Cup" (PDF). ITTF. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Top players descend on Disneyland Paris for ITTF Men's World Cup". InsideTheGames. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Liebherr 2018 ITTF Men´s World Cup / Results / Group stage". ITTF. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Liebherr 2018 ITTF Men´s World Cup / Results / Knockout stage". ITTF. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
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