WTT Contender Muscat-2026 (19- 24 January 2026)

[GAOdp]

WTT Contender Muscat-2026 is the second table tennis tournament of the WTT Contender Series in 2026 (and the first event at the WTT Contenders level). The tournament was staged at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex Bawshar Muscat, located at H9FX+7VM in Muscat (Oman). WTT Contender Muscat-2026 is organised by the OMAN TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION under the auspices of World Table Tennis (WTT) from 19 to 24 January 2026. The total prize money for medalists amounted to $100,000.

Tournament qualification

Top 20 Participation Restrictions
Singles events

• A maximum of three (3) players will be permitted to participate if players are inside the Top 20 of the ITTF TTWR, at the time of the entry deadline.

National Entry Restriction (NER)
Singles events

• Each Member Association shall be allowed a maximum of four (4) players per event excluding the WTT nomination. The restriction is applied across both the Main Draw and Qualifying competition, to provide for a maximum total of four (4) players in any combination (i.e., 2 Qualifying / 2 Main Draw or 1 Qualifying / 3 Main Draw).

Doubles events

• Each Member Association shall be allowed a maximum of eight (8) players per event with a maximum three (3) full pairs consisting of players from the same Member Association (i.e., 3 CZE/CZE, 1 CZE/SWE, 1 CZE/GER).

Mixed Doubles events

• Each Member Association shall be allowed a maximum of four (4) players per event in any pairing combination.

The Host is permitted to use its wildcards to nominate additional players from any Member Association and/or pairs in any combination outside of the NER limit.

Wildcards

• The host is entitled to the following Wildcards: three (3) players for the Singles Main Draw and two (2) pairs for the Doubles and Mixed Doubles Main Draw.
• The host is entitled to the following Wildcards: twelve (12) players for the Singles Qualifying Draw and two (2) pairs for the Doubles
• Any unused Wildcards/Nominations will be returned to the direct entries.

Useful links

Tournament page on the WTT website: WTT Contender Muscat-2026
The tournament playlist will be available on the World Table Tennis YouTube channel: World Table Tennis

 

[TTAntiPlayer]

Is this a new format? I see there are group stages now.

 

[zeio]

Is this a new format? I see there are group stages now.

Group stage replaced knockout for singles qualifying draw of WTT CT back in 2025.

 

[NextLevel]

Draw is stacked... a chance to see how the CNT perform in the absence of the Japanese lol...

 

[NextLevel]

TTR is needed at every level
:

 

[NextLevel]

Xue Fei completes his latest character arc as Harimoto's nemesis:

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Xue Fei completes his latest character arc as Harimoto's nemesis:

this was a good one. caught it live and us chatbox warriors were livin it up by g5 (ok, maybe just me and a few other comments from others here and there lol)

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Notable R32 singles matches...

Session 1:
- Lin Shidong vs Thakkar
- Sathiyan vs Ruibo
- Gacina vs Pucar
- Robles vs Chen Junsong
- Duda vs Redzimski

Session 2:
- Poret vs Sidorenko
- Xue Fei vs Jorgic
- Ch. Lutz vs Cheng I-Ching
- Xu Yingbin vs Xiang Peng
- Bardet vs Wong Chun Ting
- Gerassimenko vs Assar
- Huang Youzheng vs LJK
- Bergstrom vs Hursey

Lot of good matchups to look forward to!

Picks: LSD, Ruibo, Pucar, CJS, Duda... Sidorenko, Jorgic, CIC, XP, Bardet, Gerassimenko, LJK, Bergstrom

 

[igorponger]

TTR is needed at every level
:

Saying of wisdom, indeed. 🥰 Spare the rod, spoil the child.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Picks: LSD, Ruibo, Pucar, CJS, Duda... Sidorenko, Jorgic, CIC, XP, Bardet, Gerassimenko, LJK, Bergstrom

LSD (W), Ruibo (W), Pucar (L), CJS (W), Duda (W)... Sidorenko (W), Jorgic (W), CIC (W), XP (W), Bardet (L), Gerassimenko (W), LJK (L), Bergstrom (L)

9-4, not terrible. Didn't give too much thought on LJK but maybe this is the dip that doesn't undip. Should not have counted out WCT (had this thought). Pucar got beat easy so was off there. Bergstrom and Hursey close match, nice comeback win for Hursey.

----

Notable R16 matches...

Lin Shidong vs Sidorenko
Kallberg vs Xiang Peng
Duda vs Ruibo
WCT vs HYZ

Shi Xunyao vs Batra
Gerassimenko vs Franziska
Manush Shah vs Jorgic
Mittelham vs Zeng Jian
CJS vs Gacina
Abraamian vs Zong

Picks: Lin, XP, Duda, HYZ, Batra, Franziska, Jorgix, Jian, CJS, Zong

 

[joshmak10]

WRB is the real deal now. Beating Duda 3-0 isnt easy

 

[joshmak10]

So what are we thinking about the umpires faulting HYZ?

 

[CyNyC]

LSD risked a lot with Sidorenko. Russian missed couple of forehand when it counted the most, but his style will be a threat for many players in top 10-30.

XP needs a good mental coach to get back at his peak, imho

 

[passifid]

Xiang Peng needs an X factor, he is super consistant and plays "the right shots" but he seems to regularly struggle against anyone with decent defence. I note he frequently struggles against people who block his inside out forehands or who keep him pinned on the BH he seems to lack the X factor in his shots to put it through stronger players.

 

[Oliverpool]

So what are we thinking about the umpires faulting HYZ?

I am glad it’s “China” vs “China”. I really could not see much wrong with the first 3 service Faults called by the empire.

I mean how often do you see a service fault call on the
2nd opening serve of
The 1st game?

 

[joshmak10]

I am glad it’s “China” vs “China”. I really could not see much wrong with the first 3 service Faults called by the empire.

I mean how often do you see a service fault call on the
2nd opening serve of
The 1st game?

Idk abt the last one especially. The one before he and his coach lost their minds. That one looked perfectly legal to me

 

[Oliverpool]

Idk abt the last one especially. The one before he and his coach lost their minds. That one looked perfectly legal to me

They all look like the throw is straight up could be maybe a little low but that is the only possible reason to fault them. WCT throw were way more thrown towards the body. So again cant see what is wrong. 15cm is really very little and I can’t see how those were faulted to be less then 15cm
Or at least I think that was what the empire
Was Saying?

 

[joshmak10]

They all look like the throw is straight up could be maybe a little low but that is the only possible reason to fault them. WCT throw were way more thrown towards the body. So again cant see what is wrong. 15cm is really very little and I can’t see how those were faulted to be less then 15cm
Or at least I think that was what the empire
Was Saying?

That last serve he was faulted on was a high toss, there’s no way it could be a verticality or a height issue. I’m not sure what was going on that game. Hope HYZ isn’t too bothered by this, he has been reprimanded by coaches for being pretty bad mentally, but he’s still young and has time to fix this LGY mental game

 

[Oliverpool]

That last serve he was faulted on was a high toss, there’s no way it could be a verticality or a height issue. I’m not sure what was going on that game. Hope HYZ isn’t too bothered by this, he has been reprimanded by coaches for being pretty bad mentally, but he’s still young and has time to fix this LGY mental game

After he was faulted for the last high toss serve, he resorted to many backhand serve. It definitely mess
Up his mental game and tactics. I am not sure it he was unable to understand from the umpire why he was being penalise that’s why he almost stopped serving any pendulum serve till almost the end of the third game.

Pretty sad how it turned out.

 

[NextLevel]

After he was faulted for the last high toss serve, he resorted to many backhand serve. It definitely mess
Up his mental game and tactics. I am not sure it he was unable to understand from the umpire why he was being penalise that’s why he almost stopped serving any pendulum serve till almost the end of the third game.

Pretty sad how it turned out.

He was faulted for moving his head close to where he contacted the ball. (or more playing, for using his head to obscure the ball during the toss). You rarely see umpires make the call but the umpire was 100% correct about call. The problem is that you rarely see umpires make it so when one umpire makes it, he becomes the villain for following the rules when even TTR sometimes doesn't.