WTT Champions Incheon 2025 - 1-6 Apr 2025

[Tony's Table Tennis]

World Table Tennis

worldtabletennis.com

 

[Shine]

Apparently the Chinese top 4 ( male & female) are not playing in this tournament?
Wouldn't that be automatic zpps for them, I'm not sure how this works
Taking a lengthy break to prepare for the WTTC in May?

 

[zeio]

They get 2 annual exemptions now after the changes.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-handbook-2025-additions-changes.36168/post-511150

 

[Vlad Celler]

Is Miu Hirano taking a long vacation?

 

[Robin0910]

Why are the top CNT members are not participating?

 

[NetProphet]

Why are the top CNT members are not participating?

They want Lin Gaoyuan to finally win something?

 

[Shine]

They want Lin Gaoyuan to finally win something?

I kinda agree btw, cos his ranking points have fallen by the wayside and he's not in the top 10 anymore the last time I checked. It's a chance for him to possibly win and get a ranking boost prior to the WTTC. I guess Huang Youzheng rankings are still too low to participate but Zhou Qihao's shouldn't be way off the mark.

 

[Shine]

They get 2 annual exemptions now after the changes.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/wtt-handbook-2025-additions-changes.36168/post-511150

Thanks for the info

 

[GAOdp]

WTT Champions Incheon-2025 - is the second table tennis tournament of the series WTT Champions Series in 2025, held in Incheon, South Korea. WTT Champions Chongqing-2025 will be held Korea Table Tennis Association under patronage of World Table Tennis (WTT) from April 1 to April 6, 2025. The prize money for medalists in the tournament was $500,000.

Tournament Qualification

The tournament will be held in two singles events, men's and women's, to which only the top 32 players by world ranking will be invited.
The entire tournament will be played on a single competition table (with a requirement for 8 practice tables).

National Limit

Singles:

• Each Member Association shall be allowed a maximum of four (4) players per event, excluding host wildcards and WTT nominations.

Wildcards

• WTT is entitled to one (1) WTT nomination per event;
• The Organizer is entitled to one (1) wildcard per event;
• Any unused wildcards/host country selections will be returned to direct entries.

Useful links

Link to the tournament on the WTT website: WTT Champions Incheon 2025
Link to the tournament on the WTT Youtube channel: WTT Champions Incheon 2025

 

[FIXPOINT]

WTT Champions Incheon 2025 WS SF

Japanese version​

 

[FIXPOINT]

WTT Champions Incheon 2025 MS SF

Japanese version​

 

[dingyibvs]

Man, that finishing shot by XP for the last point was pretty insane! Looks like he's switched to the W968, so fully embracing his pivot FH style of play now.

 

[Catenaccio]

LYJ survives a tricky first round match against Xue Fei. Managed to adjust in time by using his punch serve from the back end of G3 and pushing long at 11:11 in G3 instead of playing his favorite Chiquita.

9:11, 11:3, 13:11, 11:5

 

[zeio]

HY got owned by Polcanova... Didn't expect that.

p.s.
HY 6 H2H 0 Polcanova before this, and Polcanova didn't win her 1st game until the 5th encounter, which was in 2020.

 

[dingyibvs]

HY got owned by Polcanova... Didn't expect that.

Well, she just came back from an injury. At her age it'll take some time for her to fully recover.

 

[zeio]

Then Winter can really forget LA 2028 if HY could win the Europe Top 16 2025 upon her return.

Polcanova: Europe Top 16 2025 was a blip caused by equipment...

 

[zeio]

R32
F. Lebrun 2-3 LSS (5, -8, -6, 10, -9)

Hopefully A. Lebrun has realized what he's done now. Not just MS, but also MD and probably MT are affected now.

p.s.
After winning WTT CS Montpellier 2024, Felix has lost to 5 lower-ranked non-CNT players:
WTT CS Frankfurt 2024 - QF 1-3 Moregard
WTT F Fukuoka 2024 - R16 2-3 Duda
Singapore Smash 2025 - R32 2-3 Kao Cheng-Jui
Europe Top-16 Cup 2025 - QF 2-3 Franziska, R16 3-2 Duda
WTT CS Chongqing 2025 - QF 2-3 LJK
WTT CS Incheon 2025 - R32 2-3 LSS

p.s.
Some of the Tieba users' worries about Alexis' action potentially affecting Felix are materializing.

 

[d3nium]

LSS gets another top scalp. Tough as nails!

 

[Egon]

R32
F. Lebrun 2-3 LSS (5, -8, -6, 10, -9)

Hopefully A. Lebrun has realized what he's done now. Not just MS, but also MD and probably MT are affected now.

p.s.
After winning WTT CS Montpellier 2024, Felix has lost to 5 lower-ranked non-CNT players:
WTT CS Frankfurt 2024 - QF 1-3 Moregard
WTT F Fukuoka 2024 - R16 2-3 Duda
Singapore Smash 2025 - R32 2-3 Kao Cheng-Jui
Europe Top-16 Cup 2025 - QF 2-3 Franziska, R16 3-2 Duda
WTT CS Chongqing 2025 - QF 2-3 LJK
WTT CS Incheon 2025 - R32 2-3 LSS

It's not for nothing that we have such a proverb - To succeed, you need to go through fire, water and copper pipes. Fame can turn your head, especially at such a young age. I wonder if Timo Bol had the same falls?

 

[zeio]

Definitely. Boll losing to Waldner at Athens 2004 was one of his biggest falls. Losing to RSM at WTTC 2007 was another.

Compared to WTTC 2005 bronze medalist Maze (took down Wang Hao and Hao Shuai) who was also born in 1981, Boll has only taken down Chen Qi at WTTC 2011 (and ultimately won bronze) and Zhao Qihao (the only CNT player in his half of the bracket) at WTTC 2021 (won bronze again).