The ITTF World Tour took place in its 21st edition in 2016. It began on January 20th with the Hungarian Open in Budapest and ended on December 11th with the last day of the Grand Finals in Doha.
The participating players were able to play in 20 different qualifying tournaments, which were divided into three categories - Super, Major and Challenge Series. In each tournament there was a singles, doubles and U-21 competition for men and women. Depending on the category and the placement achieved, points were distributed, with the players with the most points qualifying for the Grand Finals. 16 players qualified in singles, each of which had to have participated in at least 5 tournaments, in doubles 8 pairs who had to take part in 4 tournaments with the same line-up, 8 players in 4 tournaments in at least 2 different ones in the U-21 competition Continents must have participated. A seat was reserved for a player or a double from the host country of the Grand Finals, if someone was present who met the entry criteria.
The Grand Finals took place in the knockout system from the start.
Distribution of points
Super Series (6 ×)
Major Series (6 ×)
Challenge Series (8 ×)
singles
Double
U-21
singles
Double
U-21
singles
Double
U-21
1st place
500
300
300
200
200
200
100
100
100
place 2
300
150
150
100
100
100
50
50
50
Semifinals
200
75
75
50
50
50
25th
25th
25th
Quarter finals
100
38
38
25th
25th
25th
13
13
13
Round of 16
50
19th
19th
13
13
13
6th
6th
6th
last 32
25th
-
9
6th
-
6th
3
-
3
last 64
-
-
-
3
-
3
2
-
2
Tournaments
In total there were 8 tournaments of the Challenge Series and 6 tournaments each of the Major and Super Series. 11 tournaments took place in Europe, 7 (including Grand Finals) in Asia and one each in (Latin) America, Africa and Oceania, with the German Open being the only tournament in the Super Series that did not take place in Asia. The three tournaments outside of Europe and Asia all belonged to the Challenge Series.
Fang Bo had enough points to qualify, but did not take part in the required 5 tournaments. Zhang Jike canceled due to a foot injury. Li Ping was ranked 34th in the points table and participated in the Grand Finals as a representative of the host country.
The Chinese doubles had enough points to qualify but failed to play the required four tournaments. (Zhang Jike was also represented in two doubles, just like Ho Kwan Kit) Hugo Calderano and Gustavo Tsuboi were qualified, but did not participate. Patrick Franziska was injured and therefore could not take part with Jonathan Groth.
Li Xiaoxia and Wu Yang had enough points to qualify, but did not take part in the required 5 tournaments. Qualified players Liu Shiwen and Yu Mengyu did not participate.
Doha
Ma Long
Jung Young-sik Lee Sang-su
Yui Hamamoto Hina Hayata
Liao Cheng-Ting
Vladimir Samsonov
Wong Chun Ting
Dimitrij Ovtcharov
Alexey Liventsov Mikhail Paikov
Hugo Calderano Gustavo Tsuboi
Robin Devos Cedric Nuytinck
Antoine Hachard Romain Ruiz
Feng Tianwei
Matilda Ekholm Georgina Póta
Li Jie Li Qian
