The second most prestigious table tennis event on earth the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup is just 50 days away
The Liebherr 2015 Men’s World Cup will take place from 16-18 October in Halmstad Sweden the same city that will host the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships.
Only 20 of the world’s best table tennis players are invited to play in Halmstad. 17 of them have qualified through their respective Continental Cups plus the current World Champion a host country player and a wildcard.
Current world champion and world number one MA Long heads the entry list at the 36th Men’s World Cup. The 26 year old will be determined to win his second World Cup crown after coming so close last year in the most dramatic final in recent history against the 2014 champion ZHANG Jike.
The 2013 champion and world number two XU Xin and the 2015 European Games champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV will be the other two big names in a star studded field at the Halmstad Arena.
The full list of 20 players that have qualified for one of the biggest shows in table tennis are (pending confirmation):
MA Long (CHN) – World Champion
ASSAR Omar (EGY) – African Cup Winner
XU Xin (CHN) – Asian Cup Winner
TSUBOI Gustavo (BRA) – Latin American Cup Winner
BUTLER Jimmy (USA) – North American Cup Winner
HENZELL William (AUS) – Oceania Cup Winner
OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER) – Europe Cup Winner
MIZUTANI Jun (JPN) – Asian Cup 3rd place
FREITAS Marcos (POR) – Europe Cup 2nd place
GIONIS Panagiotis (GRE) – Europe Cup 3rd place
TANG Peng (HKG) – Asian Cup 4th place
KIM Minseok (KOR) – Asian Cup 5th place
GAUZY Simon (FRA) – Europe Cup 4th place
APOLONIA Tiago (POR) – Europe Cup 5th place
GARDOS Robert (AUT) – Europe Cup 6th place
ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND) – Asian Cup 6th place
NIWA Koki (JPN) – Asian Cup 7th place
GAO Ning (SIN) – Asian Cup 8th place
KARLSSON Kristian (SWE) – Host player
KALLBERG Anton (SWE) – Wild card
