Other Events | 12 Nov 2012

Chinese stars head Grand Finals invitation list

China’s XU Xin and CHEN Meng head the list of qualifiers for the Men’s and Women’s Singles events at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, to be staged in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th December.

China’s XU Xin and CHEN Meng head the list of qualifiers for the Men’s and Women’s Singles events at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, to be staged in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th December.

Meanwhile, the Men’s Doubles list is led by the Singaporean duo of GAO Ning and LI Hu with Japan’s Horko FUJII and Misako WAKAMIYA the names at the top of the Women’s Doubles qualifiers. Chinese Taipei’s CHEN Chien-An and Japan’s Kasumi ISHIKAWA top the respective Under 21 Men’s Singles and Under 21 Women’s Singles names.

The announcement by the International Table Tennis Federation follows the conclusion of the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Polish Open in Poznan on Sunday 11th November; the last of the open international tournaments on this year’s calendar.

Following the conclusion of proceedings the top 16 players on each of the Men’s and Women’s Singles Standings qualify for the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Hangzhou with the proviso that they must have competed in a minimum six tournament’s in the year’s itinerary.

The four leading men and four leading women from the ITTF Euro-Africa Circuit are also invited to Hangzhou; thus making a total of 20 players in each of the Men’s and Women’s Singles events. A total of six events will be staged at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.

In addition to the Men’s and Women’s Singles event; the leading eight pairs on the Men’s and Women’s Doubles Standings plus the leading eight players on the Under 21 Men’s Singles and Under 21 Women’s Singles Standings are invited to Hangzhou.

Similar to the Men’s and Women’s Singles events; there are provisos. In the Men’s and Women’s Doubles competitions, pairs must have competed as a partnership in at least four tournaments on the calendar and in the Under 21 Men’s and Women’s Singles events in at least four tournaments and on two continents.

All matches are best of seven games throughout with Friday 16th November 2012 being the confirmation deadline date.

(by Ian MARSHALL, courtesy ITTF)

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Photo: CHEN Meng (courtesy ITTF)