(Courtesy of ETTU)
ITTF Confirms List of Players for ITTF World Cups
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has confirmed the 20 male & female players who will be in action at the Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men’s World Cup and the Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup presented by Polar Naturals to be held later this month.

Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men’s World Cup – 20-22 Oct 2017, Liege (BEL)
Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup presented by Polar Naturals – 27-29 Oct 2017, Markham (CAN)

Reigning World Champion MA Long (CHN) and World number two, Asian Cup Champion ZHU Yuling (CHN) will be heading the respective seeding at the Men’s & Women’s World Cup, and will compete for the prestigious World Cup titles alongside Continental Champions as well as other top players who had qualified through their Continental Cups.

After World Champion DING Ning (CHN)’s withdrawal from the Women’s World Cup due to her physical condition, DING’s teammate LIU Shiwen (CHN) was selected to replace DING at the event, given her strong past Women’s World Cup performance and her second-place finish at the 2017 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup, and will be aiming for a record fifth title in 2017.

With their strong form in recent events, European top stars Marcos FREITAS (POR) and Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU) were given the wildcard places to compete at the Men’s & Women’s World Cups respectively for their chance at the titles.

The ITTF Men’s & Women’s World Cups will start off with players seeded 9 – 20 playing round robin in the group stage to fight for their chance to join the top 8 players in the second stage, where a knockout system will be played to determine the winner.

The ITTF Men’s World Cup will be in its 38th edition in 2017 since its inauguration in 1980 in Hong Kong, whereas the Women’s World Cup will be in its 21st year since it first started in 1996 in Hong Kong as well.

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