2017 Men’s World Cup
The Liebherr 2017 Men’s World Cup will be held in the Country hall de Liège. It is the fourth time that Belgium has hosted the tournament; the previous occasions being in Verviers in 2013 and in Liège in 2005 & 2008.
The 20 players taking part at the Liebherr 2017 Men’s World Cup qualified through their Continental Cups apart from World Champion MA Long (CHN) host representative Cedric NUYTINCK (BEL) and wildcard entry Marcos Freitas (POR).
The 20 players who contest the Liebherr 2017 Men’s World Cup comprise:
- The current World Champion
- 17 players who qualified through their respective Continental Cups.
- If no players qualify from the host association through the above the host association may nominate a player
- The final player is chosen by the ITTF as a wildcard.
How the 17 places are determined through the Continental Cup:
- The winner of each Continental Cup plus the second and third highest finishers from Asia and Europe qualify; a total of 10 players.
- Seven additional players are selected from the Continental Cups based on their order of finishing and their World Ranking. The highest ranked player amongst players finishing second in Africa Latin America North America Oceania and fourth in Asia and Europe are selected. The highest ranked next player from the remaining players in the top most places on the qualifying positions from each Continental Cup are selected and so on until the seven places are filled.
# WR – Oct 2017 Player Qualification Method
1 1 MA Long (CHN 1) World Champion
2 36 Quadri ARUNA (NGR) African Cup Winner
3 9 LIN Gaoyuan (CHN2) Asian Cup Winner
4 112 Gustavo TSUBOI (BRA) Pan American Cup Winner
5 228 Kanak JHA (USA) Pan American Cup (2nd player)
6 339 David POWELL (AUS) Oceania Cup Winner
7 4 Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER 1) Europe Cup Winner
8 16 LEE Sangsu (KOR 1) Asian Cup 3rd place (2nd Qualifier)
9 33 CHEN Chien-An (TPE 1) Asian Cup 4th place (3rd Qualifier)
10 41 Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS) Europe Cup 2nd place (2nd Qualifier)
11 13 Simon GAUZY (FRA) Europe Cup 3rd place (3rd Qualifier)
12 7 Jun MIZUTANI (JPN 1) Continental Cup Qualifier 1
13 34 KOU Lei (UKR) Continental Cup Qualifier 2
14 5 Timo BOLL (GER 2) Continental Cup Qualifier 3
15 21 Omar ASSAR (EGY) Continental Cup Qualifier 4
16 36 JEONG Sangeun (KOR 2) Continental Cup Qualifier 5
17 15 CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE 2) Continental Cup Qualifier 6
18 8 Koki NIWA (JPN 2) Continental Cup Qualifier 7
19 7 Cedric NUYTINCK (BEL) Host
20 19 Marcos FREITAS (POR) Wild card
Prize Money
Winner: US$45 000
Runner up: US$25 000
3rd place: US$15 000
4th place: US$10 000
5th – 8th place: US$6 000
9th – 16th place: US$3 250
17th – 20th place: US$1 250
Total: US$150 000
Most Successful Men’s World Cup Players
Ma Lin (CHN) 4 (2006 2004 2003 2000)
Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) 3 (2009 2001 1999)
Wang Hao (CHN) 3 (2010 2008 2007)
MA Long (CHN) 2 (2015 2012)
Most Men’s World Cup Appearances
Jean-Michel Saive (BEL) 18
Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE) 18
Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) 17
Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE) 14
