World Cup 1997 (table tennis)

1996 ← World Cup → 1998
	Men	Women
date	October 23-26	09/12 - 09/14
place	Nîmes	Shanghai
Edition	18th	2
winner	Zoran Primorac Kong Linghui Uladsimir Samsonau	Wang Nan Li Ju Li Chunli

The table tennis World Cup 1997 took place for the men in his 18th host from 23 to 26 October at the French Nimes and the women in his second host from 12 to 14 September at the China Shanghai instead. Gold went to the Croatian Zoran Primorac and Wang Nan from China .

mode

16 athletes took part in each competition, divided into four groups of four athletes each. The group first and second advanced to the main round, which was held in knockout mode. The semi-final losers played a game for third place. The game was played in the group stage with two winning sets, then (except for the game for third place in the women) with three winning sets.

Attendees

space	Men	TN	Women	TN
1	Zoran Primorac	5	Wang Nan	1
2	Kong Linghui	4th	Li Ju	1
3	Vladimir Samsonov	2	Li Chunli	1
4th	Christophe Legoût	1	Geng Lijuan	2
5	Kim Taek-soo	6th	Jie Schöpp	2
	Jan-Ove Waldner	13	Wang Chen	2
	Liu Guoliang	3	Chai Po Wa	2
	Jörg Roßkopf	5	Chen Jing	1
9	Patrick Chila	3	Csilla Bátorfi	1
	Damien Éloi	2	Ni Xialian	2
	Wenguan Huang	5	Ryu Ji-hae	1
	Kalinikos Kreanga	2	Krisztina Tóth	1
13	Hugo Hoyama	6th	Chan Tan Lui	2
	Peter Jackson	6th	Lyanne Kosaka	1
	Kazeem Nostru	1	Bimbo Owopetu	1
	Jean-Michel Saive	8th	Tong Fei-Ming	1

Men

Group stage

Group 1

	Result
Jan-Ove Waldner	2-0	Christophe Legoût
Jan-Ove Waldner	2: 1	Damien Éloi
Jan-Ove Waldner	2: 1	Jean-Michel Saive
Christophe Legoût	2-0	Damien Éloi
Christophe Legoût	2-0	Jean-Michel Saive
Damien Éloi	2-0	Jean-Michel Saive

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Jan-Ove Waldner	3	6: 2	6th
2	Christophe Legoût	3	4: 2	5
3	Damien Éloi	3	3: 4	4th
4th	Jean-Michel Saive	3	1: 6	3

Group 2

	Result
Jörg Roßkopf	2-0	Kong Linghui
Jörg Roßkopf	0: 2	Wenguan Huang
Jörg Roßkopf	2-0	Peter Jackson
Kong Linghui	2-0	Wenguan Huang
Kong Linghui	2-0	Peter Jackson
Wenguan Huang	2-0	Peter Jackson

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Jörg Roßkopf	3	4: 2	5
2	Kong Linghui	3	4: 2	5
3	Wenguan Huang	3	4: 2	5
4th	Peter Jackson	3	0: 6	3

Group 3

	Result
Zoran Primorac	2-0	Uladsimir Samsonau
Zoran Primorac	2-0	Patrick Chila
Zoran Primorac	2-0	Hugo Hoyama
Uladsimir Samsonau	2-0	Patrick Chila
Uladsimir Samsonau	2: 1	Hugo Hoyama
Patrick Chila	2-0	Hugo Hoyama

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Zoran Primorac	3	6-0	6th
2	Uladsimir Samsonau	3	4: 3	5
3	Patrick Chila	3	2: 4	4th
4th	Hugo Hoyama	3	1: 6	3

Group 4

	Result
Liu Guoliang	2-0	Kim Taek-soo
Liu Guoliang	1: 2	Kalinikos Kreanga
Liu Guoliang	2-0	Kazeem Nostru
Kim Taek-soo	2-0	Kalinikos Kreanga
Kim Taek-soo	2-0	Kazeem Nostru
Kalinikos Kreanga	2-0	Kazeem Nostru

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Liu Guoliang	3	5: 2	5
2	Kim Taek-soo	3	4: 2	5
3	Kalinikos Kreanga	3	4: 3	5
4th	Kazeem Nostru	3	0: 6	3

Main round

	Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	Jan-Ove Waldner	0
	Kong Linghui	3
					Kong Linghui	3
					Uladsimir Samsonau	1
	Uladsimir Samsonau	3
	Liu Guoliang	1
									Kong Linghui	0
									Zoran Primorac	3
	Zoran Primorac	3
	Kim Taek-soo	0
					Zoran Primorac	3			3rd place match
					Christophe Legoût	0
	Christophe Legoût	3							Uladsimir Samsonau	3
	Jörg Roßkopf	2							Christophe Legoût	0

Women

Group stage

Group 1

	Result
Li Ju	2-0	Li Chunli
Li Ju	2-0	Ryu Ji-hae
Li Ju	2-0	Tong Fei-Ming
Li Chunli	2: 1	Ryu Ji-hae
Li Chunli	2-0	Tong Fei-Ming
Ryu Ji-hae	2: 1	Tong Fei-Ming

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Li Ju	3	6-0	6th
2	Li Chunli	3	4: 3	5
3	Ryu Ji-hae	3	3: 5	4th
4th	Tong Fei-Ming	3	1: 6	3

Group 2

	Result
Wang Nan	2-0	Geng Lijuan
Wang Nan	2: 1	Csilla Bátorfi
Wang Nan	2-0	Bimbo Owopetu
Geng Lijuan	2-0	Csilla Bátorfi
Geng Lijuan	2-0	Bimbo Owopetu
Csilla Bátorfi	2-0	Bimbo Owopetu

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Wang Nan	3	6: 1	6th
2	Geng Lijuan	3	4: 2	5
3	Csilla Bátorfi	3	3: 4	4th
4th	Bimbo Owopetu	3	0: 6	3

Group 3

	Result
Chen Jing	2-0	Jie Schöpp
Chen Jing	2-0	Krisztina Tóth
Chen Jing	2-0	Chan Tan Lui
Jie Schöpp	2-0	Krisztina Tóth
Jie Schöpp	2-0	Chan Tan Lui
Krisztina Tóth	2-0	Chan Tan Lui

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Chen Jing	3	6-0	6th
2	Jie Schöpp	3	4: 2	5
3	Krisztina Tóth	3	2: 4	4th
4th	Chan Tan Lui	3	0: 6	3

Group 4

	Result
Chai Po Wa	2: 1	Wang Chen
Chai Po Wa	2-0	Ni Xialian
Chai Po Wa	2-0	Lyanne Kosaka
Wang Chen	2-0	Ni Xialian
Wang Chen	2-0	Lyanne Kosaka
Ni Xialian	2-0	Lyanne Kosaka

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Chai Po Wa	3	6: 1	6th
2	Wang Chen	3	5: 2	5
3	Ni Xialian	3	2: 4	4th
4th	Lyanne Kosaka	3	0: 6	3

Main round

	Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	Li Ju	3
	Wang Chen	0
					Li Ju	3
					Geng Lijuan	0
	Geng Lijuan	3
	Chen Jing	0
									Li Ju	2
									Wang Nan	3
	Chai Po Wa	0
	Li Chunli	3
					Li Chunli	0			3rd place match
					Wang Nan	3
	Jie Schöpp	0							Geng Lijuan	0
	Wang Nan	3							Li Chunli	2

Others

Even taking into account both the men's and women's competitions, Li Chunli was the first and so far (as of 2019) only oceanic (albeit Chinese-born) female athlete to win a World Cup medal. This medal is also the second (after the one won in 1993 by the Canadian Wenguan Huang , also from China ) and so far the last that did not go to Europe or Asia.

With 13 World Cup participations Jan-Ove Waldner improved his record from the previous year.

For men, only three Asians took part in the World Cup, which was a new and still valid negative record (as of 2019).

Web links

• World Cup results 1980-2003 on ittf.com (pdf) (accessed December 24, 2015)