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| Photo: TFFI |
We're 3 days away from the 2017 Asian Cup, to be held in Ahmedabad, India, from 15 to 17 September. 32 top table tennis athletes from Asia will be competing for the men's singles and women's singles title.
Despite the Chinese are not sending their recent men's singles and women's singles National Games champion, Ma Long and Ding Ning to this year's Asian Cup, Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan for the men's side, Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling, for the women's, are among the top Chinese table tennis athletes and are major contenders, especially Liu Shiwen who has already won 4 Asian Cup champion in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2016. Can she make history and defend her title, winning her 5th Asian Cup champion?
The Chinese aside, Japanese athletes, Jun Mizutani, Koki Niwa, Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa have a pretty good chance of making to the podium. Of course, we cannot overlook the competitiveness of 2017 world men's singles bronze medalist Lee Sangsu from Korea, 2013 men's doubles world champion Chen Chien-An, Chuang Chi-Yuan from Chinese Taipei, Wong Chun Ting, Lee Ho Ching, Doo Hoi Kem from Hong Kong and Asian Cup medalists, Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu representing Singapore.
Competition format
The top 12 athletes (according to World Ranking) will be drawn into Group A, B and C to form groups of 4 while the remaining athletes will form Group D. A round-robin system is in play in stage 1 of the competition. The top 2 players from Group A, B and C will directly qualify to stage 2. While the top player of Group D will join the third players in Group A, B and C to compete for the remaining 2 spots of Stage 2. Competitions in Stage 1 will be played under the best of 5 format. Stage 2 is a knockout stage where the best of 7 format in play. Players will not meet opponents from the same group and same delegation before semifinals.
ITTF has listed each country's rosters and schedule (GMT+ 5.5) for the 2017 Asian Cup.
Men's Singles
Women's Singles
ITTV will not be streaming this competition but CCTV 5 will. Here is the TV schedule for CCTV 5.
September 16 (GMT+8)
13:35 Women's / Men's Singles Quarterfinals
18:30 Women's Singles Semifinals
19:10 Men's Singles Semifinals (CCTV 5+)
September 17 (GMT+8)
10:15 Women's / Men's Singles Semifinals (Replay)
17:35 Women's / Men's Singles Bronze Medal Match (CCTV5+)
18:30 Women's / Men's Singles Finals (CCTV 5)
Updates of the draw and results can be found on ITTF website.
Who will be the champion? Share your thoughts in the comment box below and follow the blog as we will have more translated fluff about the National Games held in last week and a Throwback Thursday about the past Asian Cup!
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