Who do you think will win the World Championships?

  • Ma Long

    Votes: 65 37.6%
  • Fan Zhendong

    Votes: 67 38.7%
  • Xu Xin

    Votes: 14 8.1%
  • Zhang Jike

    Votes: 16 9.2%
  • Dimitrij Ovtcharov

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Jun Mizutani

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • Wong Chun Ting

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Timo Boll

    Votes: 2 1.2%
  • Chuang Chih Yuan

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Other (Post Below)

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • Total voters
    173
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There seems to be hope for non-CNT players after the upsets at the recent Asian Championships. Perhaps because of the enormous pressure CNT puts on itself and the recent coaching changes? So the time for more upsets seem ripe with other nations seeing cracks in the armor.

On the other hand, CNT has tremendous resources and time to prepare. And no other players are as prepared as China. So my predictions are:

men: Ma Long/Fan Zhendong

foreign dark horse: Hugo Calderano (Why not? No one expected Jeong Sangeun to reach the finals at the Asian Championships. Whoever rises to the occasion is not always who you would expect. I'm just making a random guess.)

women: Liu Shiwen/Ding Ning

foreign dark horse: Miu Hirano (Of course she's not really unknown to the CNT, is she?)
 
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It seems non chinese players are much closer now. Especially ladies Hirano Miu gave hard Times and beat all chinese girls, besides LSW.
Also all chinese men besides FZD lost lately to lower ranked players. At the same time Jun Mizutani is in superb form destroying timo boll in easy way. It seems he developed his game and his fh sidespin is really something I like to watch.
Everything depends on the main draw but I would love to see non chinese finals.
 
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It seems non chinese players are much closer now. Especially ladies Hirano Miu gave hard Times and beat all chinese girls, besides LSW.
Also all chinese men besides FZD lost lately to lower ranked players. At the same time Jun Mizutani is in superb form destroying timo boll in easy way. It seems he developed his game and his fh sidespin is really something I like to watch.
Everything depends on the main draw but I would love to see non chinese finals.

well even Timo mentioned in pressconference that Jun is on the Level of the chinese right now, but between timo and jun we have to look at the circumstances. this was nothing but a Training game cause Orenburg already won the Champions league after game one.
But all in all you re right I think he will be one contender to beat the chinese.

Hugo calderano is a good pick too for unestimated results. more complex Player than aruna and more Speed and agility than gauzy, so with a good draw i think he can make some upsets like in Rio.

Beside These guys I think if anyone can beat the chinese : Dima, Timo, woojin, sangeun, matsudeira, niwa (only the softer hitters like zjk) , lebesson, wong, jung, samsonov, gardos ( if he can Play like he used to), fegerl, chuang and Tokic.

freitas Apolonia good Players but too soft by playing style like gauzy to win such a game in my opinion.
Aruna if he improves more on backhand. he would probably a xu xin in penhold style :D
 
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There seems to be hope for non-CNT players after the upsets at the recent Asian Championships. Perhaps because of the enormous pressure CNT puts on itself and the recent coaching changes? So the time for more upsets seem ripe with other nations seeing cracks in the armor.

On the other hand, CNT has tremendous resources and time to prepare. And no other players are as prepared as China. So my predictions are:

men: Ma Long/Fan Zhendong

foreign dark horse: Hugo Calderano (Why not? No one expected Jeong Sangeun to reach the finals at the Asian Championships. Whoever rises to the occasion is not always who you would expect. I'm just making a random guess.)

women: Liu Shiwen/Ding Ning

foreign dark horse: Miu Hirano (Of course she's not really unknown to the CNT, is she?)

Contrary to popular belief , Jun Mizutani has not been in great form until the finals of Champions League. He lost to Marcos Freitas very recently and he really has not played any CNT player in the recent past. Even in the CL final, he faced sub par fegerl and unmotivated TB. He also had some medical issues in recent past. So overall I have mixed opinion on Jun Mizutani's prospects.

Calderano however can spring a few surprises. Dima will choke as usual in the big stage. Sangeun's run in Asians was a fluke at best. He has no chance here. Woojin has a better chance to surprise us. I would closely follow harimoto tomokazu if he is playing the main draw. He can become a prospect as good as Hirano in the future.
 
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I guess i should post luxembourg pictures in this thread .

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here we do have the first Pictures and a video postet an hour ago with the main hall and playing venue of the wttc2017 and how it is built up so far.

https://www.facebook.com/ITTFWorldChamps/?fref=ts

for further Infos in the last days a Bulletin or a prospectus for wttc2017 appeared on the ittf Website including room plans for the venues and how they are connected with each other - and under that the final Players list for wttc2017

http://www.ittf.com/tournament/2705/world-table-tennis-championships/

last but not least 2 Pictures from the venue playinh hall 1 and 2 (first Picture is hall 2 second the main venue)

18519706_10207043649009609_3703642995891071859_n.jpg18527516_10207043649169613_8276015436559895008_n.jpg
 
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I wonder if FZD is strong enough mentally to be world champion. If Dima is in good shape we might see him challenging the chinese since his playstyle is good against them.

The biggest problem for non chinese is that I don't see anyone beating Ma Long. I see that someone can upset ZJK, XX, maybe even FZD but I don't see anyone beating the dragon
 
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I wonder if FZD is strong enough mentally to be world champion. If Dima is in good shape we might see him challenging the chinese since his playstyle is good against them.

The biggest problem for non chinese is that I don't see anyone beating Ma Long. I see that someone can upset ZJK, XX, maybe even FZD but I don't see anyone beating the dragon

Xu xin is probably the one that can beat ML. FZD can beat him as well if he's on the point with his close to table fast counters
 
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Nobody can beat FAN Zhendong this time I think.

This tournament is in Germany. I think there will be a few surprises and some Chinese players will be upset. Hirano has seeded some doubts among all Chinese players and given some courage to their opponents. However there are five Chinese in both singles events so difficult to see a non Chinese winning.

Among Chinese I think FAN is too strong.
If ZJK is not injured he can also fight for the title
 
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Nobody can beat FAN Zhendong this time I think.

This tournament is in Germany. I think there will be a few surprises and some Chinese players will be upset. Hirano has seeded some doubts among all Chinese players and given some courage to their opponents. However there are five Chinese in both singles events so difficult to see a non Chinese winning.

Among Chinese I think FAN is too strong.
If ZJK is not injured he can also fight for the title

i think you guys underestimate ma long.
 
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i think you guys underestimate ma long.

I think the same.
this guy lost not one game against non cnt in the last 5 years until asian championchips just because he lost one game and maybe 1 or in the preparation (and won about 10) people think fzd is the favorite now. I don t say he isnt able to win wttc he definetly is and if fzd fails it wont be because he was too nervous or ready for the title this guy is training against these guys everyday won the german open at age 16 just became asian games champion and is multiple national champion and a pro for life, this is not a guy who is to anxious or too nervous for a title like that not having this title makes him just more dangerous. but all in all if we look at the results even at the results 5-6 months ago ma long is still the better player one failed tournament in advance wont change that, and besides of that they didnt even meet in one of the tournaments.

but we will see a clash between the cnt and even xx might have a chance or zjk. I hope for a non CNT player but being realistic i would be very happy to see a german/european/non cnt player beat one of those guys just once at wttc.
 
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I think the same.
this guy lost not one game against non cnt in the last 5 years until asian championchips just because he lost one game and maybe 1 or in the preparation (and won about 10) people think fzd is the favorite now. I don t say he isnt able to win wttc he definetly is and if fzd fails it wont be because he was too nervous or ready for the title this guy is training against these guys everyday won the german open at age 16 just became asian games champion and is multiple national champion and a pro for life, this is not a guy who is to anxious or too nervous for a title like that not having this title makes him just more dangerous. but all in all if we look at the results even at the results 5-6 months ago ma long is still the better player one failed tournament in advance wont change that, and besides of that they didnt even meet in one of the tournaments.

but we will see a clash between the cnt and even xx might have a chance or zjk. I hope for a non CNT player but being realistic i would be very happy to see a german/european/non cnt player beat one of those guys just once at wttc.

The big difference is that in internal tournaments, they have coaches by their side. In international tournaments, they do not. That is why FZD struggles against ML internationally, he doesn't have a coach to reassure him on the tactical and psychological front. Whether this tournament or the new balls is the tipping point is hard to be sure of in advance. But against every other player, FZD is unbeatable.
 
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The big difference is that in internal tournaments, they have coaches by their side. In international tournaments, they do not. That is why FZD struggles against ML internationally, he doesn't have a coach to reassure him on the tactical and psychological front. Whether this tournament or the new balls is the tipping point is hard to be sure of in advance. But against every other player, FZD is unbeatable.

i think by statistics youre right with what you mentioned if we look at fzd score at chinese super league, national cc, internal events he won like everything where hes been coached.
but i dont think that the impact is that high and beside of that they playin each other so often and i dont thin they are changing tactics so much in different games. everybody knows who s struggling with which balls. i'd say it s

50% ma long
35% fan zhendong
8% zjk
6% xx
1% anybody else

of winning wttc
 
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