2017 ITTF Men's World Cup

2017 ITTF Men's World Cup
Venue	Country Hall Liège
Location	Liège, Belgium
Date	20–22 October
Competitors	20 from 15 nations
Total prize money	$150,000
Medalists
Dimitrij Ovtcharov   Timo Boll   Ma Long

The 2017 ITTF Men's World Cup was a table tennis competition held in Liège, Belgium, from 20 to 22 October 2017. It was the 38th edition of the ITTF-sanctioned event, and the fourth time that it had been staged in Belgium.^[1]

In the final, Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov defeated fellow German Timo Boll, 4–2, to win his first World Cup title.^[2]

Qualification

The following list of players was confirmed on 25 September 2017, based on the qualification system set by the ITTF.^[3][4]

No.	World Ranking (August 2017)	Player	Qualified as
1	1	Ma Long	World Champion
2	31	Quadri Aruna	Africa Cup winner
3	32	Lin Gaoyuan	Asian Cup winner
4	104	Gustavo Tsuboi	PanAm Cup winner
5	212	Kanak Jha	PanAm Cup North American qualifier
6	293	David Powell	Oceania Cup winner
7	4	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	Europe Top 16 winner
8	12	Lee Sang-su	Asian Cup 2nd place
9	52	Chen Chien-an	Asian Cup 3rd place
10	35	Alexander Shibaev	Europe Top 16 2nd place
11	13	Simon Gauzy	Europe Top 16 3rd place
12	6	Jun Mizutani	Continental Cup qualifier
13	30	Kou Lei	Continental Cup qualifier
14	7	Timo Boll	Continental Cup qualifier
15	39	Omar Assar	Continental Cup qualifier
16	40	Jeong Sang-eun	Continental Cup qualifier
17	14	Chuang Chih-yuan	Continental Cup qualifier
18	9	Koki Niwa	Continental Cup qualifier
19	81	Cédric Nuytinck	Host nation representative
20	15	Marcos Freitas	Wild card

Competition format

The tournament consisted of two stages: a preliminary group stage and a knockout stage. The players seeded 9 to 20 were drawn into four groups, with three players in each group. The top two players from each group then joined the top eight seeded players in the second stage of the competition, which consisted of a knockout draw.^[3]

Seeding

The seeding list was based on the official ITTF world ranking for October 2017.^[5]

1. Ma Long (semifinals)
2. Dimitrij Ovtcharov (champion)
3. Timo Boll (final)
4. Jun Mizutani (quarterfinals)
5. Koki Niwa (quarterfinals)
6. Lin Gaoyuan (quarterfinals)
7. Simon Gauzy (semifinals)
8. Chuang Chih-yuan (first round)
9. Lee Sang-su (first round)
10. Marcos Freitas (first round)
11. Omar Assar (first round)
12. Chen Chien-an (Preliminary round, withdrew)
13. Kou Lei (first round)
14. Quadri Aruna (first round)
15. Jeong Sang-eun (first round)
16. Alexander Shibaev (quarterfinals)
17. Cédric Nuytinck (Preliminary round)
18. Gustavo Tsuboi (first round)
19. Kanak Jha (Preliminary round)
20. David Powell (Preliminary round)

Preliminary stage

The preliminary group stage took place on 20 October, with the top two players in each group progressing to the main draw.^[6]

Chen Chien-an withdrew from the competition on the opening day due to illness.^[7]

Group A Lee Aruna Jha Points 9 Lee Sang-su 4–3 4–3 4 14 Quadri Aruna 3–4 4–2 3 19 Kanak Jha 3–4 2–4 2

Group B Freitas Kou Powell Points 10 Marcos Freitas 4–0 4–0 4 13 Kou Lei 0–4 4–0 3 20 David Powell 0–4 0–4 2

Group C Shibaev Assar Nuytinck Points 16 A. Shibaev 4–3 4–0 '4 11 Omar Assar 3–4 4–3 3 17 Cédric Nuytinck 0–4 3–4 2

Group D Jeong Tsuboi Chen Points 15 Jeong Sang-eun 4–1 w/o 4 18 Gustavo Tsuboi 1–4 w/o 3 12 Chen Chien-an w/d w/d

Main draw

The knockout stage took place from 21–22 October.^[8]

	First round											Quarterfinals											Semifinals											Final
	1	Ma Long	11	7	11	11	11
	11	Omar Assar	7	11	8	8	4					1	Ma Long	13	11	11	9	11
	9	Lee Sang-su	5	10	11	11	6	9				5	Koki Niwa	11	9	5	11	8
	5	Koki Niwa	11	12	8	2	11	11															1	Ma Long	11	11	9	11	7	5	10
	6	Lin Gaoyuan	11	10	11	11	11																3	Timo Boll	6	9	11	9	11	11	12
	10	Marcos Freitas	3	12	9	5	5					6	Lin Gaoyuan	11	13	9	11	9	12	11
	18	Gustavo Tsuboi	10	8	5	11						3	Timo Boll	5	11	11	9	11	14	13
	3	Timo Boll	12	11	11	13																												3	Timo Boll	12	8	7	11	7	2
	4	Jun Mizutani	11	11	11	11																												2	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	10	11	11	9	11	11
	14	Quadri Aruna	6	7	6	7						4	Jun Mizutani	7	11	11	13	9	11	8
	15	Jeong Sang-eun	11	4	11	7	9					7	Simon Gauzy	11	6	13	11	11	7	11
	7	Simon Gauzy	9	11	13	11	11																7	Simon Gauzy	11	2	8	12	11	4	8			Third place
	8	Chuang Chih-yuan	10	11	9	9	11	9															2	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	6	11	11	10	7	11	11
	16	Alexander Shibaev	12	9	11	11	5	11				16	Alexander Shibaev	11	11	10	9	7	12	7														1	Ma Long	11	11	6	11	11	11
	13	Kou Lei	4	5	11	12	6					2	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	9	8	12	11	11	10	11														7	Simon Gauzy	5	13	11	5	7	9
	2	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	11	11	13	10	11

See also

• 2017 World Table Tennis Championships
• 2017 ITTF Women's World Cup
• 2017 ITTF World Tour
• 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

References

1. "Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men's World Cup". ITTF. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
2. "A step higher, Dimitrij Ovtcharov wins in Liège". ITTF. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
3. "Qualification and Playing System for the Women ́s & Men's World Cup" (PDF). ITTF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
4. "Confirmed list of players Liebherr 2017 Men ́s World Cup" (PDF). ITTF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
5. "Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men ́s World Cup Players' Seeding List (WR Oct 2017)" (PDF). ITTF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
6. "ITTF Men's World Cup / Groups (1st Stage)" (PDF). ITTF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
7. "Review Day One: Star performances, early scares and a big withdrawal". ITTF. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
8. "ITTF Men's World Cup / Main Draw" (PDF). ITTF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.

External links

• ITTF website