World Cup 2018 (table tennis)

2017 ← World Cup → 2019
	Men	Women
date	October 19 - October 21	09/28 - 09/30
place	Paris	Cheng you
Edition	39	22nd
winner	Fan Zhendong Timo Boll Lin Gaoyuan	Ding Ning Zhu Yuling Cheng I-Ching

The table tennis - World Cup 2018 took place for the men in his 39th host from 19 to 21 October at the French Paris and for the women in his 22 host from 28 to 30 September at the Chinese Chengdu instead.

mode

20 athletes took part in each competition. The eight best-placed participants in the world rankings were automatically qualified for the main round, which was held in the knockout system , the remaining twelve participants were divided into four groups of three athletes each, two of which qualified for the main round. The semi-final losers played a game for third place. Each game was played in best-of-seven mode and thus consisted of four to seven sets.

qualification

The reigning world champion is automatically qualified. Otherwise, qualification takes place via the Asian Cup, the Europe Top 16 Cup , the African Cup, the Oceania Cup and the Panam Cup. The first three players in the Asian and Europe Cups, the first two players in the Panam Cup and the first three in the other tournaments are automatically qualified. The participants in the other places were determined by comparing the players who had not yet qualified best in the respective Continental Cups, with the player with the best world ranking position taking the next place at the time of the invitation in July. In this way, seven more starting places were awarded, the host associations were given a further place if none of their players had qualified yet (otherwise an eighth place was awarded according to the above criteria), and the ITTF also awarded a wildcard .

A maximum of two players per association can take part. Since the reigning world champions also come from China, the Chinese runners-up in the Asian Cup, Lin Gaoyuan and Chen Meng, did not originally qualify. The fourth placed received their place. Omar Assar could not attend, so Panagiotis Gionis came up for him; Ma Long did not participate either, which resulted in Lin Gaoyuan still getting a place.

Qualification through	player	WRL	Players	WRL
World Champion	Ma Long	6th	Ding Ning	17th
African Cup 1st place	Omar Assar	21st	Dina Meshref	39
Asian Cup 1st place	Fan Zhendong	1	Zhu Yuling	1
Asian Cup 2nd place	Lin Gaoyuan	3	Chen Meng	3
Asian Cup 3rd place	Lee Sang-su	7th	Kasumi Ishikawa	4th
Asian Cup 4th place	Jeong Sang-eun	24	Cheng I-Ching	9
Europe Top 16 1st place	Timo Boll	2	Bernadette Szőcs	28
Europe Top 16 2nd place	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	4th	Li Jie	41
Europe Top 16 3rd place	Jonathan Groth	17th	Elizabeta Samara	21st
Oceania Cup 1st place	Hu Heming	178	Jian Fang Lay	66
Panam Cup 1st place	Hugo Calderano	10	Zhang Mo	22nd
Panam Cup 2nd place	Gustavo Tsuboi	41	Wu Yue	71

Remaining places men

Also Bastian Steger had finished fifth at the Europe Top 16 and would have qualified with World No. 32 before Kanak Jha. However, since two Germans, Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov, had already qualified, Steger was not given a starting place.

round	Africa	WRL	Asia	WRL	Europe	WRL	Oceania	WRL	Panamerica	WRL
1	2nd Quadri Aruna	20th	5. Tomokazu Harimoto	8th	4. Vladimir Samsonov	24	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
2	2nd Quadri Aruna	20th	6. Kōki Niwa	12	4. Vladimir Samsonov	24	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
3	2nd Quadri Aruna	20th	7. Wong Chun Ting	9	4. Vladimir Samsonov	24	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
4th	2nd Quadri Aruna	20th	8. Nima Alamian	70	4. Vladimir Samsonov	24	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
5	2. Ahmed Saleh	120	8. Nima Alamian	70	4. Vladimir Samsonov	24	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
6th	2. Ahmed Saleh	120	8. Nima Alamian	70	5. Mattias Falck	18th	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
7th	2. Ahmed Saleh	120	8. Nima Alamian	70	5. Panagiotis Gionis	67	2. Dean Shu	191	3rd Kanak Jha	64
8th	2. Ahmed Saleh	120	8. Nima Alamian	70	5. Panagiotis Gionis	67	2. Dean Shu	191	4. Marcelo Aguirre	106
host					Simon Gauzy	11
Wildcard					Emmanuel Lebesson	33

Other places women

round	Africa	WRL	Asia	WRL	Europe	WRL	Oceania	WRL	Panamerica	WRL
1	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	5. Miu Hirano	8th	4. Matilda Ekholm	25th	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
2	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	6. Doo Hoi Kem	10	4. Matilda Ekholm	25th	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
3	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	7. Chen Szu-yu	23	4. Matilda Ekholm	25th	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
4th	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	8. Suh Hyowon	13	4. Matilda Ekholm	25th	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
5	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	9. Suthasini Sawettabut	59	4. Matilda Ekholm	25th	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
6th	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	9. Suthasini Sawettabut	59	5. Sofia Polcanova	16	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
7th	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	9. Suthasini Sawettabut	59	5. Georgina Póta	32	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
8th	2. Sarah Hanffou	202	9. Suthasini Sawettabut	59	5. Liu Jia	44	2. Melissa Tapper	175	3. Bruna Takahashi	67
Wildcard			Kim Song-i	55

Attendees

The first column shows the final position, the columns "WRL-Pos." The world ranking position relevant for the seeding (yellow marks the 8 players directly seeded for the main round).

Item	Men	WRL item	TN	Women	WRL item	TN
1	Fan Zhendong	1	3	Ding Ning	6th	3
2	Timo Boll	3	15th	Zhu Yuling	1	3
3	Lin Gaoyuan	5	2	Cheng I-Ching	8th	5
4th	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	4th	11	Kasumi Ishikawa	4th	6th
5	Tomokazu Harimoto	8th	1	Doo Hoi Kem	13	3
	Lee Sang-su	7th	3	Miu Hirano	9	3
	Kōki Niwa	10	3	Sofia Polcanova	17th	2
	Vladimir Samsonov	30th	17th	Suh Hyowon	12	4th
9	Mattias Falck	19th	1	Chen Szu-yu	27	2
	Simon Gauzy	16	4th	Matilda Ekholm	29	3
	Jonathan Groth	18th	1	Kim Song-i	63	1
	Jeong Sang-eun	17th	2	Jian Fang Lay	74	7th
	Kanak Jha	67	3	Liu Jia	41	13
	Emmanuel Lebesson	50	1	Georgina Póta	36	6th
	Gustavo Tsuboi	48	4th	Elizabeta Samara	20th	5
	Wong Chun Ting	9	2	Bernadette Szőcs	26th	1
17th	Quadri Aruna	21st	5	Li Jie	18th	3
	Hugo Calderano	11	2	Dina Meshref	43	6th
	Panagiotis Gionis	70	3	Wu Yue	69	2
	Heming Hu	170	1	Zhang Mo	22nd	6th

Men

Group stage

Group A

	Result
Hugo Calderano	3: 4	Emmanuel Lebesson
Hugo Calderano	1: 4	Vladimir Samsonov
Vladimir Samsonov	4: 2	Emmanuel Lebesson

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Vladimir Samsonov	2	8: 3	4th
2	Emmanuel Lebesson	2	6: 7	3
3	Hugo Calderano	2	4: 8	2

Group B

	Result
Simon Gauzy	4-0	Kanak Jha
Simon Gauzy	4: 3	Quadri Aruna
Quadri Aruna	2: 4	Kanak Jha

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Simon Gauzy	2	8: 3	4th
2	Kanak Jha	2	4: 6	3
3	Quadri Aruna	2	5: 8	2

Group C

	Result
Jeong Sang-eun	4: 1	Panagiotis Gionis
Jeong Sang-eun	4-0	Gustavo Tsuboi
Gustavo Tsuboi	4: 1	Panagiotis Gionis

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Jeong Sang-eun	2	8: 1	4th
2	Gustavo Tsuboi	2	4: 5	3
3	Panagiotis Gionis	2	2: 8	2

Group D

	Result
Jonathan Groth	4-0	Heming Hu
Jonathan Groth	4: 3	Mattias Falck
Mattias Falck	4-0	Heming Hu

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Jonathan Groth	2	8: 3	4th
2	Mattias Falck	2	7: 4	3
3	Heming Hu	2	0: 8	2

Main round

Round of 16

Quarter finals

Semifinals

final

1

Fan Zhendong

4th

16

Gustavo Tsuboi

0

1

Fan Zhendong

4th

15th

Vladimir Samsonov

0

15th

V. Samsonov

4th

7th

Wong Chun Ting

1

1

Fan Zhendong

4th

4th

Lin Gaoyuan

1

8th

Kōki Niwa

4th

12

Jonathan Groth

1

8th

Kōki Niwa

1

4th

Lin Gaoyuan

4th

18th

Kanak Jha

1

4th

Lin Gaoyuan

4th

1

Fan Zhendong

4th

2

Timo Boll

1

3

Dimitrij Ovtcharov

4th

13

Mattias Falck

3

3

Dimitrij Ovtcharov

4th

5

Lee Sang-su

3

10

Simon Gauzy

3

5

Lee Sang-su

4th

3

Dimitrij Ovtcharov

2

2

Timo Boll

4th

6th

T. Harimoto

4th

11

Jeong Sang-eun

0

6th

Tomokazu Harimoto

1

3rd place match

2

Timo Boll

4th

17th

E. Lebesson

1

4th

Lin Gaoyuan

4th

2

Timo Boll

4th

3

Dimitrij Ovtcharov

1

Women

Group stage

Group A

	Result
Li Jie	1: 4	Kim Song-i
Li Jie	2: 4	Matilda Ekholm
Matilda Ekholm	3: 4	Kim Song-i

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Kim Song-i	2	8: 4	4th
2	Matilda Ekholm	2	7: 6	3
3	Li Jie	2	3: 8	2

Group B

	Result
Elizabeta Samara	4: 3	Dina Meshref
Elizabeta Samara	4: 3	Chen Szu-yu
Chen Szu-yu	4-0	Dina Meshref

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Elizabeta Samara	2	8: 6	4th
2	Chen Szu-yu	2	7: 4	3
3	Dina Meshref	2	3: 8	2

Group C

	Result
Zhang Mo	4: 3	Jian Fang Lay
Zhang Mo	1: 4	Georgina Póta
Georgina Póta	1: 4	Jian Fang Lay

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Jian Fang Lay	2	7: 5	3
2	Georgina Póta	2	5: 5	3
3	Zhang Mo	2	5: 7	3

Group D

	Result
Bernadette Szőcs	4: 2	Wu Yue
Bernadette Szőcs	4: 2	Liu Jia
Liu Jia	4: 3	Wu Yue

space	player	Games	sentences	Points
1	Bernadette Szőcs	2	8: 4	4th
1	Liu Jia	2	6: 7	3
3	Wu Yue	2	5: 8	2

Main round

Round of 16

Quarter finals

Semifinals

final

Zhu Yuling

4th

Matilda Ekholm

0

Zhu Yuling

4th

Sofia Polcanova

0

Elizabeta Samara

0

Sofia Polcanova

4th

Zhu Yuling

4th

Cheng I-Ching

1

Doo Hoi Kem

4th

Bernadette Szőcs

2

Doo Hoi Kem

2

Cheng I-Ching

4th

Georgina Póta

0

Cheng I-Ching

4th

Zhu Yuling

0

Ding Ning

4th

Ding Ning

4th

Liu Jia

0

Ding Ning

4th

Suh Hyowon

1

Jian Fang Lay

3

Suh Hyowon

4th

Ding Ning

4th

Kasumi Ishikawa

0

3rd place match

Miu Hirano

4th

Kim Song-i

0

Miu Hirano

1

Cheng I-Ching

4th

Kasumi Ishikawa

4th

Kasumi Ishikawa

1

Chen Szu-yu

2

Kasumi Ishikawa

4th

Others

With 13 World Cup appearances, Liu Jia set a new record for women.

Web links

• Men's World Cup 2018 on ittf.com (accessed April 23, 2018)
• Women's World Cup 2018 on ittf.com (accessed April 23, 2018)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Qualification and Playing System / Women's and Men's World Cup. (PDF) ittf.com, accessed June 26, 2018 . 
2. ^ Fine European record, now Liu Jia sets new record. ittf.com, September 27, 2018, accessed November 30, 2019 .