(by Steve Hopkins)

The ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup returns this month, bringing together the world’s best for an intense battle on the biggest of stages. From April 14 to 20, the Galaxy Arena in Macao, will play host to a lineup of elite talent vying for the Evans Cup (the name of the ITTF Men’s Cup) and the Hammarlund Cup (the name of the ITTF Women’s World Cup).

The event will be played in 2 stages.  The first stage will be sixteen 3-player groups with first place finishers will move forward to Stage 2 for the knockout rounds, where every match is best-of-seven.   The draws for the groups have been posted on the ITTF site.  USA’s Kanak Jha is in group number 12 as the second seed with Germany’s Dang Qiu ahead of him and Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes behind him.  Jha will play on Monday against Cifuentes.

The top seeds should have pretty safe draws.  However, many of the groups will have tighter match-ups that could create some excitement early in the Group Stage.  Hugo Calderano, for instance, has Yukiya Uda in his group (Group 5).  Patrick Franziska has both Alvaro Robles and Simon Gauzy to contend with in Group 7.  Lin Yun-Ju and Dimitrij Ovtcharov are both in Group 14.

On the Women’s side,  USA’s Amy Wang is third in Group 12, looking up at Shin Yubin and Elizabeta Samara.  USA’s Lily Zhang is first in Group 14 with Suh Hyo Won and Chunli Li to contend with.  Adrian Diaz is also first in her group (Group 15) with Prithika Pavade and Annett Kaufmann.

Beyond the trophy, the event will give 1,500 ranking points to the winner, so expect big changes in the ITTF standings later this month.  The field is stacked.  And after having played through the group stage, each player reaching the Main Draw should be playing their best.

This tournament is going to be special.  Tune in for updates at ButterflyOnline.com

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