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The Liebherr Men's World Cup will be held in Verviers, Belgium on 25-27th October 2013. I'm going to attend the quarter finals. In the article below the invited players are listed. Unfortunately, not a single defender. But... does anybody know what is meant by "continental qualification"? How comes world's number 59 (!) Kim Hyok Bong (North Korea) is invited? And Tang Peng (n°27) and Chen Chien-An (n°28)? No Joo SaeHyuk. And not a single American.


09/09/2013 LIEBHERR 2013 Men´s World Cup (from ITTF-site)

Life started in Asia, the first Men’s World Cup was staged in Hong Kong in 1980 when an all-Chinese final saw Guo Yuehua account for Li Zhenshi.

Now the pendulum has swung very much to Europe being the home; in 2013 the country that will host the tournament is Belgium, it will be the third time the nation of some 10 million inhabitants will host the prestigious annual event.

Liège was the home in 2005 and three years later in 2008 when the respective winners were Germany’s Timo Boll and China’s Wang Hao.

Welcome to Verviers
Verviers, a little over an hour’s drive from the capital city of Brussels, depending on traffic and force applied on the accelerator pedal, will be the home for the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup in 2013.

Proceedings start on Friday 25th October and conclude on Sunday 27th October, the Hall du Paire being the home, a multi-purpose arena opened in 2006 which holds some 4,000 spectators.

Last Eight in Europe
In recent years the tournament has very much found its home in Europe; in fact the last eight editions of the Men’s World Cup have been held in the old continent.

In addition to Liège, Paris, Barcelona, Moscow, Magdeburg and Liverpool have hosted the event.

Stark Contrast
It is stark contrast to the earlier years of the tournament; in fact it was not until 1995 when the tournament was held in the French city of Nîmes that a home was found in Europe, it was to be the home for three consecutive editions of the event with Kong Linghu, Liu Guoliang and Zoran Primorac emerging as the champions.

None of First 15 Found European Home
None of the first 15 editions found a European home, with Asia being the prominent host; only on three occasions did the event venture to other continents and when it did, it ventured to the Caribbean and to Kenya.

In 1983 it was staged in Barbados, in 1986 in Port of Spain and in 1989 in Nairobi; the respective winners being Mikael Appelgren, Chen Longcan and Ma Wenge.

Otherwise it was in the domain of Asia.

Changing Times
Much has changed since those times when the first stage of proceedings saw players drawn in to four groups with four players in each group and the players finishing in first and second places in each group advancing to the quarter-finals.

In fact it remained that way until the introduction of the Intercontinental Cup in 2011 in Moscow, now after four years of a system where the nominees from Africa, Asia, North America and Oceania competed for the right to join the leading 15 players, a different system is in place.

Current System
Now in 2013, the system used, as with the Starts Women’s World Cup, is that 20 players are invited; the reigning World champion, a representative from the host nation, a wild card and the rest by continental qualification.

Organisation is administered in three stages; the first stage sees players ranked no.9 to no.20 compete in four groups, three players in each group.

The winners of each group progress to the second stage where again play in organised in four groups, three players in each group with the top eight seeds entering the fray.
Players finishing in first and second places in each of the four groups secure quarter-final places.

Prize Fund
A total prize fund of US$150,000 is on offer with the winner claiming US$45,000 and the runner up US$25,000.

Invitation List
The invitation list reads: Zhang Jike (China), Lashin El-Sayed (Egypt), Xu Xin (China), Thiago Monteiro (Brazil), Andre Ho (Canada), William Henzell (Australia), Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei), Noshad Alamiyan (Iran), Tang Peng (Hong Kong), Kim Hyok Bong (DPR Korea), Chen Chien-An (Chinese Taipei), Jiang Tianyi (Hong Kong), Yang Zi (Singapore), Sharath Kamal Achanta (India), Timo Boll (Germany), Patrick Baum (Germany), Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus), Marcos Freitas (Portugal), Jean-Michel Saive (Belgium), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany)

By Ian Marshall, ITTF

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According to my definition of "American", ie someone from North or South America, there are 2 Americans - one from Canada & one from Brazil.

G, D & R

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Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

You're right Retriever, I looked over it too quickly.

The invitation list is also on the World cup's site now and now it becomes more clear on what basis the players were selected (see below). I understand they want to include players from all over the world, but I don't think this is the best formula. Many of the best Asians are f.e not present, just because they didn't perform well in the Asian cup. And for Europe, they select on the basis of best results at WTTC and not European championships (probably because of timing problems). Why not inviting the season's revelations and/or winners of big open tournaments, for example Shiono

1 4 ZHANG Jike (CHN1) World Champion
2 100 LASHIN El-Sayed (EGY) African Cup Winner
3 2 XU Xin (CHN2) Asian Cup Winner
4 136 MONTEIRO Thiago (BRA) Latin American Cup Winner
5 384 HO Andre (CAN) North American Cup Winner
6 132 HENZELL William (AUS) Oceania Cup Winner
7 7 CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE1) Asian Cup 3rd place
8 54 ALAMIYAN Noshad (IRI) Asian Cup 4th place
9 27 TANG Peng (HKG1) Asian Cup 5th place
10 59 KIM Hyok Bong (PRK) Asian Cup 6th place
11 28 CHEN Chien-An (TPE2) Asian Cup 7th place
12 20 JIANG Tianyi (HKG2) Asian Cup 8th place
13 94 YANG Zi (SIN) Asian Cup 9th/10th place
14 51 ACHANTA Kamal (IND) Asian Cup 9th/10th place
15 5 BOLL Timo (GER1) Europe (QF WTTC)
16 21 BAUM Patrick (GER2) Europe (QF WTTC)
17 12 SAMSONOV Vladimir (BLR) Europe (last 16 WTTC)
18 23 FREITAS MArcos (POR) Europe (last 16 WTTC)
19 130 SAIVE Jean-Michel (BEL) Host player
20 6 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER3) Wild card

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I would be really great if you could give us a bit of a 'live' update on what's happening when you're there. I'm sure not many of us have ever attended big events like that! Don't forget the camera with the big tele lens, so you can take closeups of player's equipment!

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I was afraid Joo wouldn't participate, so I didn't order my tickets yet and I'm not planning to do so.

If you ever have the chance to watch international TT live, don't hesitate to do so. I saw it twice (2008, 2010) and it's one of the most beautiful things I ever witnessed, especially the defenders. When I saw Joo moving and striking the ball: it was as elegant as ballet - very pleasing for the eye.

Yan An has replaced Zhang Jike at next weekend's World Cup... There seems to be a discussion whether ZJK has a shoulder injury or whether there are other reasons for his withdrawal.

I'm looking forward to see all those players live in a few days, even though there is not a single defender...

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