With the World Championships soon upon us, the TableTennisDaily team have been discussing the players who are heading to Düsseldorf at the end of this month, and deciding who we think will be the players to look out for during the tournament…

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Defending World Champion Ma Long enters as the no.1 seed

Written by Tom Lewis
The European players in form include the heavyweight champion of Europe Dimitrij Ovtcharov! Dima will be looking to take on the Chinese and get a medal at the worlds after having some tough matches at previous world championships, such as losing to Lee Sang Su from Korea in the round of 64 in China 2015. His recent strong form in the Champions league will put him in a good position for the big stage on home soil!

Other regulars from Europe to watch include Simon Gauzy the talented Frenchman who could cause an upset. Timo Boll may find his form again after his recent Champions League defeat, he will be looking to upset the top seeds and perform in front of home fans. Vladimir Samsonov and Marcos Freitas are also contenders.

The big top 10 players will be going for it after the fantastic Rio Olympics.

Hugo Calderano showed excellent form in Rio, as did Jeoung Youngsik and Wong Chun Ting. Jun Mizutani achieved a bronze in Rio and showed in the recent Champions league that he still can hold his own at the top of the game! Not many players can beat Timo Boll 3-0! Many other players can cause upsets like then experienced Chuang Chih Yuan or the tricky Japanese spin players like Kenta Matsudaira and Koki Niwa.

A number of players are improving quickly and are hungry to take on the best in the world. Names such as Liam Pitchford, Anton Kallberg, Tomokazu Harimoto, Mattias Karlsson, Jonathan Groth, Jakub Dyjas, Patrick Franziska, Gionis Panagiotis, Quadri Aruna and Paul Drinkhall can all beat the top 20 boys on the day!

It goes without saying that the real favorites for the World Championships are the Chinese. Ma Long the defending champ and top seed will be going for another title. Fan Zhendong is playing the best table tennis of his life right now and will be keen to win a worlds. Let's not forget grand Slam champion Zhang Jike and Xu Xin as well as the young and dangerous Lin Gauyuan. China are currently in Luxembourg preparing for the WTTC, follow all the latest news here.

Take a look back at the 2015 World Championships Final between Ma Long and Fang Bo! What a game!


We are really excited to be covering the World Championships on TTD and look forward to the big matches ahead! Stay tuned for updates, interviews, articles and much more…

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Photos by: Sina/Weibo
Written by: Tom Lewis
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no word about Samsonov (champions league winner, 4th in Rio) ? Lebesson (European Champion) ? Wong Chu Ting ?

So you open up a thread "is Samsonovs career finished" one day ask about why samsonov isnt mentioned as one of the main contenders for world champion thhe next :D

No hate :D !
 
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