(by Steve Hopkins)

The strongest field of the Summer is ready to play starting Monday in Budapest, Hungary.  Fan Zhendong is the only player in the Top 10 not present.  Ma Long (World No. 2) will be the top seed, and Liang Jingkun (World No. 3) will be the second seed.  The qualifiers will be played Monday and Tuesday with some big names as qualifiers as well, Jang Woojin, Daniel Habesohn, Benedek Olah, An Jaehyun, Alexandre Cassin, and Sharath Kamal Achanta headline the qualifiers).

If all goes by seed, Ma Long would face Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the Quarterfinals, Hugo Calderano would face Wang Chuqin with the winner potentially facing Lin Yun-Ju in the Quarters.  Darko Jorgic could face Truls Moregard in a Quarterfinal assuming Timo Boll or Mattias Falck don’t upset the seedings.  And Tomokazu Harimoto and Liang Jingkun could face each other in the Quarters as well.

The Women’s competition will be fierce as well.  In fact, all 15 of the World’s Top 15 players are entered.  The draw is so tough that Japan’s Miu Hirano, World No. 17 will be a qualifier.  Like the men, qualifying rounds will be played Monday and Tuesday with the Main Draw starting on Wednesday.

For those watching TeamUSA players – Kanak Jha is scheduled to play Wong Chun Ting in the Round of 64 on Wednesday.  Also, Lily Zhang will face Petrissa Solja in the Round of 64 on Wednesday.  Live video will be posted at www.worldtabletennis.com/livevideo

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