(by Steve Hopkins)

We are only 5 days away from the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals.  Durban, South Africa is the host this year.  All ten of the ITTF Top 10 list will be present for the Men’s Singles competition making this the toughest competition of the year.  There will be five events spread over the nine tournament days – Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles, and also Mixed Doubles.

One hundred and twenty eight players will compete in each event (128 singles entries in each singles event, and 64 pairs for each doubles event).  In addition to the standard prizes, the Champions will receive 2000 world ranking points (launching any would-be winner into the Top 10 – and likely into the Top 5).

For anyone who hasn’t been watching the World Rankings, Fan Zhendong remains the World’s top player.  Wang Chuqin is in second, with Ma Long third.  Tomokazu Harimoto is in fourth with Liang Jingkun in fifth.  Hugo Calderano is the top player from outside of Asia at sixth.  Truls Moregard is the top ranked European at seven.  Ling Gaoyuan, Lin Yun-Ju, and Dang Qiu round out the Top 10.  All ten players will be present in Durban.

Jishan Liang will be the USA’s participant. Eugene Wang and Jeremy Hazin will compete for Canada.  Daniel Gonzalez and Brian Afanador will compete for Puerto Rico.  In Women’s Singles, Lily Zhang, Amy Wang, and Sarah Jalli will all compete for TeamUSA.  Adriana Diaz and Melanie Diaz will compete for Puerto Rico, and Mo Zhang and Ivy Liao will play for Canada.

See the full list of players here:  https://worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?eventId=2660

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