WTT Contender Taiyuan-2026 (7 - 12 April 2026)

[TampaBayTableTennis]

great match between Odo and Sato, enjoyed Odo's masterclasses this tournament

and impressive turnaround from Wen Ruibo, seemed like it was going the other way until it wasn't, showed something there and nice win!

 

[NextLevel]

XP has largely been disappointing, that I agree with. But don't get ahead of yourself with Ruibo, he hasn't shown that extra finesse / X-factor that WCQ's game possesses. He was lost in the matches against Felix and LYJ. That's a bad sign.

Liang Jingkun was losing to other juniors around when he was Liang Jingkunxs age. Wen has time to improve if his age is what it is as no one builds out players like the CNT does.

 

[zeio]

Japanese team selection is competitive and the trials were won by a surprising player (Rin Mende). That brought it down to Odo vs Nagasaki and the committee went with Nagasaki. And strictly speaking, this was just after Nagasaki had beaten Wang Yidi and Odo had a period of underperformance after failing to defend her Montpellier title so her raning and Nagasaki's have been in the 10-20 range. Odo also didn't play the trials because she got too far into Chennai and while we don't know whether that played a role or not, it is important to reward the people who are actively trying to qualify when things are close. But since she didn't play the main event that would have given her a chance to book her place and also lost in the quarter finals at thr national champs, the same stage Nagasaki lost. Nagasaki at least lost to Harimoto while Odo lost to Kihara.

That said, the bigger goals are the singles world championships in 2027 and the Olympica in 2028. With the smashes in play for world ranking, national team selections are not as big a deal as they used to be as you can always make up the points elsewhere with your quality of play. So I think Odo is largely fine and will be clearly back on the first national team fairly soon if she does well at a Smash event or Champions event. She will get her chances unless Mima Ito figures out a magical way to preserve her points falling off by the end of this month

If you want to go into detail and paint a fuller picture, at least get the facts straight.

For Asian Cup 2026:
Since KKY as 2024 Asian Champion didn't confirm her spot, Harimoto as the finalist got JPN an extra spot, that is, 5 rather than 4. OTOH, Ito opted out of it, therefore JPN had 2 free spots up for grabs. Odo opted not to take up the "opening" whereas Nagasaki and Akae took it and the former beat WYD, which was ultimately JTTA's rationale behind her selection.

For WTTC 2026 Selection Trial:
Odo, or Miki House players to be precise (other than Takamori Mao and Watarai Hiro), opted out of it from the get-go. Unlike Hirano, their names didn't even appear on the player list. Therefore, it was known a week before WTT CT Chennai 2026 that Odo and company wouldn't participate.

Interpretation:
There has been a rift between Miki House and JTTA since WTTC 2015 and the reformed selection systems (with more transparency as requested) for the majors have been put in place because of them in the first place. Sakamoto's statement (published after the WTTC 2026 team announcement) that his gaze is fixed only on 2027, 2028 and the Olympics only further alienates his team from the stated goal of Nakazawa after assuming the head coach position in 4/2025 - a strong national team system with more training camps and intelligence sharing among players and their respective parent organizations, that is, teamwork.

---

Asian Cup 2026
https://www.ittf.com/tournament/3471/ATTU Asian Cup Haikou 2026/
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Playing-system-document-ATTU-2026.pdf
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Womens-Singles-Qualified-Players.pdf

Women's Singles
2025 Week #51 - December 16th
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025_51_SEN_WS.html
6 Harimoto
9 Ito
10 Hayata
11 Hashimoto
14 Odo
15 Nagasaki
18 Kihara
29 Sato
36 Yokoi
41 Akae
48 Shibata
63 Hirano

Entry list on 2026/1/7
https://weibo.com/7360795486/Qm3qlmxAn

---

WTTC 2026 Selection Trial
https://jtta.or.jp/tour/35020
Player list on 2026/2/14
https://jtta.s3.ap-northeast-1.amaz...16082923/fd68ddd79c52eccd548d2d827a2843c6.pdf
Archive of tournament page on 2026/2/4
https://web.archive.org/web/20260204160349/https://jtta.or.jp/tour/35020
Archive of Player list on 2026/2/3
https://web.archive.org/web/2026020...03163821/c255e1665d47e4203804149299f9ad29.pdf

 

[joshmak10]

XP has largely been disappointing, that I agree with. But don't get ahead of yourself with Ruibo, he hasn't shown that extra finesse / X-factor that WCQ's game possesses. He was lost in the matches against Felix and LYJ. That's a bad sign.

I agree he hasn’t been great in some of those games, but we also have to remember that he’s 19 and still has time to grow. It’s not like Felix and LYJ are pushovers anyways. (The Artemenko loss was really awful tho lol)

 

[John Birkin]

Japanese team selection is competitive and the trials were won by a surprising player (Rin Mende). That brought it down to Odo vs Nagasaki and the committee went with Nagasaki. And strictly speaking, this was just after Nagasaki had beaten Wang Yidi and Odo had a period of underperformance after failing to defend her Montpellier title so her raning and Nagasaki's have been in the 10-20 range. Odo also didn't play the trials because she got too far into Chennai and while we don't know whether that played a role or not, it is important to reward the people who are actively trying to qualify when things are close. But since she didn't play the main event that would have given her a chance to book her place and also lost in the quarter finals at thr national champs, the same stage Nagasaki lost. Nagasaki at least lost to Harimoto while Odo lost to Kihara.

That said, the bigger goals are the singles world championships in 2027 and the Olympica in 2028. With the smashes in play for world ranking, national team selections are not as big a deal as they used to be as you can always make up the points elsewhere with your quality of play. So I think Odo is largely fine and will be clearly back on the first national team fairly soon if she does well at a Smash event or Champions event. She will get her chances unless Mima Ito figures out a magical way to preserve her points falling off by the end of this month

Thanks very much for this comprehensive reply. I will be there in London for the team semis and finals and I would just like to see China being challenged. I suppose that's a long shot in Women; I thought Japan might have an outside chance with their best team, but it's not easy to say what their best team is. The Men are different and China without FZD may well be under severe pressure. I can imagine Japan and France having a battle royale, with Germany also in the mix. Some brilliant players lack teammates of a similar standard (Moregard, Calderano, Lin Yun-Ju, Winter - not to mention Hursey!) Let's just hope that injury doesn't play a big role.

 

[John Birkin]

Thanks very much for this comprehensive reply. I will be there in London for the team semis and finals and I would just like to see China being challenged. I suppose that's a long shot in Women; I thought Japan might have an outside chance with their best team, but it's not easy to say what their best team is. The Men are different and China without FZD may well be under severe pressure. I can imagine Japan and France having a battle royale, with Germany also in the mix. Some brilliant players lack teammates of a similar standard (Moregard, Calderano, Lin Yun-Ju, Winter - not to mention Hursey!) Let's just hope that injury doesn't play a big role.

Just adding one big name that I forgot (there may be more) - Shin Yubin is a young player who can challenge the world's best, but her team can't.

 

[NextLevel]

Just adding one big name that I forgot (there may be more) - Shin Yubin is a young player who can challenge the world's best, but her team can't.

Haven't seen the current team but they were Olympic bronze medallists. Shin, Joo Cheonchui, and Kim Nayeong can compete with anyone. Lee Eunhye can be tough as well and there are some other talents. I think saying it is all on Shin goes too far.

 

[John Birkin]

Haven't seen the current team but they were Olympic bronze medallists. Shin, Joo Cheonchui, and Kim Nayeong can compete with anyone. Lee Eunhye can be tough as well and there are some other talents. I think saying it is all on Shin goes too far.

Player Name	Matches	Won	Lost	+/-
	SHIN Yubin	-	-	-	-/-
	KIM Nayeong	-	-	-	-/-
	YANG Ha Eun	-	-	-	-/-
	PARK Gahyeon	-	-	-	-/-
	YOO Siwoo

 

[John Birkin]

Joo is ineligible on nationality rules, which has been known for a long time. I'm sorry if I was a bit dismissive, but I knew about her and, if you are looking to take on China, I do think that Shin could do with stronger teammates.

 

[NextLevel]

Joo is ineligible on nationality rules, which has been known for a long time. I'm sorry if I was a bit dismissive, but I knew about her and, if you are looking to take on China, I do think that Shin could do with stronger teammates.

Joo has to have a date when here eligibility kicks in, if she did it agrer she was 18, then it is morr than 10 years but i didn't know whether she was eligible for ITTF but she might be eligible for the Olympics earlier. No one is taking on China except Japan, even 3 Shin Yubins would lose to China, I don't think it is fair to hold any country to that standard, even Japan struggles with it .

All you need is the ability to compete and her teammates are strong enough for the bronze, though Germany will definitely have something to say about it as will a few other Asian countries.

 

[NextLevel]

If you want to go into detail and paint a fuller picture, at least get the facts straight.

For Asian Cup 2026:
Since KKY as 2024 Asian Champion didn't confirm her spot, Harimoto as the finalist got JPN an extra spot, that is, 5 rather than 4. OTOH, Ito opted out of it, therefore JPN had 2 free spots up for grabs. Odo opted not to take up the "opening" whereas Nagasaki and Akae took it and the former beat WYD, which was ultimately JTTA's rationale behind her selection.

For WTTC 2026 Selection Trial:
Odo, or Miki House players to be precise (other than Takamori Mao and Watarai Hiro), opted out of it from the get-go. Unlike Hirano, their names didn't even appear on the player list. Therefore, it was known a week before WTT CT Chennai 2026 that Odo and company wouldn't participate.

Interpretation:
There has been a rift between Miki House and JTTA since WTTC 2015 and the reformed selection systems (with more transparency as requested) for the majors have been put in place because of them in the first place. Sakamoto's statement (published after the WTTC 2026 team announcement) that his gaze is fixed only on 2027, 2028 and the Olympics only further alienates his team from the stated goal of Nakazawa after assuming the head coach position in 4/2025 - a strong national team system with more training camps and intelligence sharing among players and their respective parent organizations, that is, teamwork.

---

Asian Cup 2026
https://www.ittf.com/tournament/3471/ATTU Asian Cup Haikou 2026/
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Playing-system-document-ATTU-2026.pdf
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Womens-Singles-Qualified-Players.pdf

Women's Singles
2025 Week #51 - December 16th
https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025_51_SEN_WS.html
6 Harimoto
9 Ito
10 Hayata
11 Hashimoto
14 Odo
15 Nagasaki
18 Kihara
29 Sato
36 Yokoi
41 Akae
48 Shibata
63 Hirano

Entry list on 2026/1/7
https://weibo.com/7360795486/Qm3qlmxAn

---

WTTC 2026 Selection Trial
https://jtta.or.jp/tour/35020
Player list on 2026/2/14
https://jtta.s3.ap-northeast-1.amaz...16082923/fd68ddd79c52eccd548d2d827a2843c6.pdf
Archive of tournament page on 2026/2/4
https://web.archive.org/web/20260204160349/https://jtta.or.jp/tour/35020
Archive of Player list on 2026/2/3
https://web.archive.org/web/2026020...03163821/c255e1665d47e4203804149299f9ad29.pdf

Thanks for a correction, though it is helpful to cite direct sources since reading links to your posts bogs down the process and leads to having to deal with other things that are far less reliable such as your opinions. Nothing you have written affects the essence of my post, Odo is not going to really hurt anything about her WTTC 2027 or LA 2028 chances with all this. Arguably she should have played the Asian Cup to qualify for the World Cup, but with the revised tour, there are 4 grand smashes, lots of Champions and Star/Contender events and there is no guarantee that she would get more points at the Asian Cup and World Cup than she will playing in well chosen Contenders and Star Contenders, which will be more apparent after Ito's points fall of.

 

[joshmak10]

We're all talking about the Korean women's team, but have yall seen the men? They're literally not even sending Park Ganghyeon, Lim Jonghoon, Park Gyuhyeon, or Cho Daesong. But instead they send two unranked players along with their strongest three. Interesting

 

[NextLevel]

We're all talking about the Korean women's team, but have yall seen the men? They're literally not even sending Park Ganghyeon, Lim Jonghoon, Park Gyuhyeon, or Cho Daesong. But instead they send two unranked players along with their strongest three. Interesting

They probably had internal trials for the last two spots and those guys you never heard of probably won. That's my best guess, but we might hear better information.

BTW, haven't seen Junsung in a while...

 

[Tyce]

uh ??? is veteran LI Jie trying to make a comeback ???

Afaik this is her "home match" because she moved back to China at some point. I'm not sure if this is going to be expanded beyond the Euros and Taiyuan but I think she isn't sure either.

 

[zeio]

We're all talking about the Korean women's team, but have yall seen the men? They're literally not even sending Park Ganghyeon, Lim Jonghoon, Park Gyuhyeon, or Cho Daesong. But instead they send two unranked players along with their strongest three. Interesting

Well, it has been music to the ears of Chinese netizens. Like CNT, KNT held selection trials and ended up with this lineup...

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...inals-london-2026-4-28-5-10.37691/post-571525

 

[joshmak10]

They probably had internal trials for the last two spots and those guys you never heard of probably won. That's my best guess, but we might hear better information.

BTW, haven't seen Junsung in a while...

Internal trials to me are interesting. Some players play better against their teammates but not against foreigners, and vice versa. Both selection winners of CNT are examples of the former. So I guess these two korean dudes are capable of beating the four players i named originally, we will see how they play against international competition.

Junsung’s ankle injury must’ve been bad. Ig he’s trying to completely rest it up for London

 

[joshmak10]

Well, it has been music to the ears of Chinese netizens. Like CNT, KNT held selection trials and ended up with this lineup...

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...inals-london-2026-4-28-5-10.37691/post-571525

As mentioned, I feel trials has its pros and cons…

 

[Matteones]

I would like to remind you all that An Jaehyun was an absolute unknown player when he got to bronze medal in his first ever world championship.
I think Korea has a very good depth of incredibly good players, and sometimes being unknown is an advantage (just imagine if Hashimoto came out directly for a world championship, I think she would have had a non - negligible chance of just straight out winning it, whilst now she has been figured out and that chance is practically gone).
As a player and as a coach, I think it is the best way to have some proven "veterans" chosen by the coaches and then give the chance to earn their spot to some others. Exclusively the first method (all chosen) would fall into favoritisms traps and exclusively the second method (all trials) is just dumb.

 

[JackJohnson]

Joo is ineligible on nationality rules, which has been known for a long time. I'm sorry if I was a bit dismissive, but I knew about her and, if you are looking to take on China, I do think that Shin could do with stronger teammates.

I thought Joo has qualified to represent South Korea since the 2025 WTTC?

They also didn’t select Lee Eunhye so wondering if it’s injury or she lost in the internal trials.

 

[NextLevel]

I would like to remind you all that An Jaehyun was an absolute unknown player when he got to bronze medal in his first ever world championship.
I think Korea has a very good depth of incredibly good players, and sometimes being unknown is an advantage (just imagine if Hashimoto came out directly for a world championship, I think she would have had a non - negligible chance of just straight out winning it, whilst now she has been figured out and that chance is practically gone).
As a player and as a coach, I think it is the best way to have some proven "veterans" chosen by the coaches and then give the chance to earn their spot to some others. Exclusively the first method (all chosen) would fall into favoritisms traps and exclusively the second method (all trials) is just dumb.

No, he wasn't an absolute unknown player. The essence of your point stands since he didn't have a high senior ranking but An was Korean junior national team. Anyone on the national team of a top table tennis country is not an absolute unknown. Let's not join the likes of those who call Idesawa an amateur.