With 2023 days left before the opening of the final of the 9 World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese table tennis team set off from Beijing on the evening of the 11th to officially start the journey of the Durban World Table Tennis Championships, and is expected to arrive in the competition city of Durban, South Africa on May 5.
The 2023 World Table Tennis Championships will be held from 5 to 20 May at the Durban International Convention Centre. There will be 28 players in the men's and women's singles, as well as 128 pairs in the men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The champion will receive 64 world ranking points. This is the first time that the World Table Tennis Championships have settled in South Africa, and it is the first time that Africa has hosted the Table Tennis World Series since the 2000 World Table Tennis Championships in Cairo.
As a major event in 2023, the Durban World Table Tennis Championships is a preview for next year's Olympic Games. Therefore, National Table Tennis attaches great importance to this World Table Tennis Championships and once again attacks the goal of winning five championships. Previously, between participating in WTT high-level events such as the Singapore Grand Slam and the Xinxiang Championship, National Table Tennis held two direct matches of the World Table Tennis Championships within the team. According to the selection rules, the singles champion of the direct tournament directly receives tickets, and the pair with the best mixed doubles record in the two events goes straight to the World Table Tennis Championships. In addition, the singles champion of the Singapore Grand Slam can also go directly to the World Table Tennis Championships.
In this World Table Tennis Championships, National Table Tennis sent the strongest team to compete, including 5 men's and women's singles, and the men's singles were Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan; The women's singles are Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi and Chen Xingtong. Guoping sent a total of 4 pairs in the men's and women's doubles, including Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong in the men's doubles, and Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu, Chen Meng/Wang Yidi in the women's doubles. In addition, Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha, Lin Shidong/Qu Man will participate in the mixed doubles event.
As the most important event of the year, Liu Guoliang, chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, called the Durban World Championships "the entrance examination of the Paris Olympic Games". He said: "This World Table Tennis Championships is also an important opportunity to select the Olympic team, and the national table tennis should win the gold medal of morality, the gold medal of style, and the gold medal of cleanliness." ”
Text/Reporter Zhou Xueshuai