ITTF Men's and Women's World Cup Macao 2026, 3/30-4/5

[dewnyc]

and FanDuel shifts to reruns due to schedule, ugh!

I also noticed that but a little too late, midway through the first game. A female poker player talked about how she kept playing when her water broke lol.
I do like using Tubi/Fanduel for watching on my tv. Some of the random breaks are annoying though.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Togami! Togami! Togami!

 

[dewnyc]

Hugo survives and advances. Wow, what a match point!

 

[NextLevel]

The Brazilian Togami beats the Japanese Calderano! Amazing match!

 

[zeio]

Like Hayata, Togami is finally playing smarter and managed better what he couldn't against Moregard at WTTC 2025, but unfortunately only in the face of a career-threatening injury, AKA a little too late. This could be his last Olympic cycle.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

unbelievable!!!

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Spoiler: Only Zyre03 allows such a skinny dude play BH offensive counter-drive from far from table…

 

[longle]

Spoiler: Only Zyre03 allows such a skinny dude play BH offensive counter-drive from far from table…

View attachment 41028

you forgot K3

 

[rpb23]

I am FZD
View attachment 41027

The posture and face expressions shows a mixed feeling of invincibility and relief, a great photo capture of the moment.

I give WCQ 85% of his peak performance and Felix 110%. Give credit to Felix, his incredible play forced more unforced errors than his usual level from WCQ. Only a peak Harimoto and Sora can go toe to toe with WCQ in a fierce topspin exchange, and Felix clearly did it this time.

Felix is still quite young and he will likely reach the top if his current trajectory continues.

 

[zeio]

Not looking good for the aging GER MT despite QD/Franziska/Ovtcharov taking out CYY/ZQH/LJK (with the former two substituting on short notice), respectively. Duda's QF last year is still the best result among them.

2024
WR10 QD - 2nd of Grp (Togami 1st of Grp)
WR46 Duda - 2nd of Grp (FZD 1st of Grp)

2025
WR8 Franziska - 2nd of Grp (Gauzy 1st of Grp)
WR11 QD - 2nd of Grp (Jha 1st of Grp)
WR17 Duda - QF 3-4 WCQ
WR23 Ovtcharov - R16 3-4 Duda

2026
WR11 QD - R16 3-4 Harimoto
WR12 Duda - 2nd of Grp (Poret 1st of Grp, 3-2 Duda)
WR18 Franziska - R16 0-4 Moregard
WR27 Ovtcharov - R16 1-4 Jorgic

World Cup: Achtelfinal-Aus für Dimitrij Ovtcharov und Ying Han
https://www.tischtennis.de/news/world-cup-achtelfinal-aus-fuer-dimitrij-ovtcharov-und-ying-han.html

Dimitrij Ovtcharov sagte nach seinem Ausscheiden: "Im ersten Satz und im dritten habe ich nach Rückständen jeweils mit 8:7 geführt, auch im letzten hatte ich bei 8:5 eine Gelegenheit zu einem Satzgewinn. Es war also weitaus mehr drin, als das Ergebnis es ausdrückt, aber ich habe in den entscheidenden Momenten leider nicht gut genug agiert." Dennoch zog der zweimalige Olympiadritte Ovtcharov, der in der Vorrunde mit dem viermaligen WM-Dritten Liang Jingkun (China) besiegte, eine positive positive Bilanz und richtet den Blick bereits nach vorne: "Ich nehme viele positive spielerische Sachen von diesem World Cup mit und einen starken Sieg gegen Liang. Das ist wichtig, denn schon bald steht mit der Team-WM in London das Highlight des Jahres an – diese Titelkämpfe werden spannender denn je."

(The match between former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov and three-time Europe Top 16 winner Darko Jorgic was a closely contested affair with many lead changes, but the player from Fulda only managed to win the fourth set. Dimitrij Ovtcharov said after his elimination: "In the first and third sets, I led 8-7 after trailing, and in the last set, I had a chance to win it at 8-5. So there was much more in it for me than the score suggests, but unfortunately, I didn't perform well enough in the crucial moments." Nevertheless, Ovtcharov, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist who defeated four-time World Championship bronze medalist Liang Jingkun (China) in the preliminary round, drew a positive conclusion and is already looking ahead: "I'm taking away many positive aspects of my game from this World Cup, including a strong victory against Liang. That's important because the highlight of the year, the World Team Championships in London, is just around the corner – these championships will be more exciting than ever.")

World Cup: Patrick Franziska unterliegt Möregardh im Achtelfinale
https://www.tischtennis.de/news/world-cup-patrick-franziska.html

"Es fühlt sich extrem hart an, so ein Riesenmatch zu verlieren"

„Es fühlt sich natürlich jetzt zunächst einmal extrem hart an, solch ein Riesenmatch zu verlieren“, erklärte Qiu,der nach starkem Beginn seinem Gegner sein aggressives Spiel zunächst hatte aufdrücken können. Der vergebene Satzball zur 3:0-Führung sorgte für eine entscheidende Veränderung im Spiel, verriet der Weltranglistenelfte: „Der Verlust des dritten Satzes hat mir dann so ein bisschen das Momentum genommen und bei Harimoto den Glauben wieder bestärkt, dass er im Match ist und gewinnen kann.“

Qiu hob zudem die Qualitäten seines Gegners hervor: „Er hat eine unheimliche Widerstandsfähigkeit und Bissigkeit, immer dran zu bleiben. Es war eines dieser Spiele, das keinen Verlierer verdient hatte.“ Den Düsseldorf schmerzt das Ausscheiden bei seiner ersten Achtelfinale: „Ich hätte gerne im Viertelfinale um eine Medaille gespielt, um auch davon wieder zu lernen.“

Trotz der Enttäuschung zog der Deutsche ein insgesamt positives Fazit des World Cups: "Meine Leistung ist bereits in der Gruppenphase sehr stark gewesen sei und im Achtelfinale habe ich mich noch einmal gesteigert. Ich hoffe, ich habe noch viele, viele ähnlich fantastische Spiele vor mir. Aber im ersten Moment tut die Niederlage heute natürlich weh – ich werde daraus lernen und es wird mich zu einem besseren Spieler machen.“ Qiu hatte sich erstmals bei seiner dritten Teilnahme für die Endrunde qualifiziert und dabei unter anderem den Chinesen Chen Yuanyu klar bezwungen.

("It feels extremely tough to lose such a huge match."

"It certainly feels extremely tough to lose such a huge match," explained Qiu, who, after a strong start, had initially been able to impose his aggressive game on his opponent. The missed set point for a 3-0 lead brought about a decisive change in the match, revealed the world number eleven: "Losing the third set took away some of my momentum and reinforced Harimoto's belief that he was in the match and could win."

Qiu also emphasized his opponent's qualities: "He has incredible resilience and tenacity, always staying in the game. It was one of those matches that didn't deserve a loser." The Düsseldorf native is stung by his elimination in his first round of 16 appearance: "I would have liked to have played for a medal in the quarterfinals, to learn from this experience as well."

Despite the disappointment, the German drew an overall positive conclusion from the World Cup: "My performance was already very strong in the group stage, and I improved even further in the round of 16. I hope I have many, many more fantastic matches ahead of me. But of course, today's defeat hurts – I will learn from it, and it will make me a better player." Qiu had qualified for the finals for the first time in his third appearance, convincingly defeating, among others, the Chinese player Chen Yuanyu.)

 

[KiwiPong]

Hugo vs Togami will start a little over an hour behind schedule

And I don’t think Hugo would complain lol

 

[pongguy69]

Okay this was the best session i've ever watched, including WTT.

ITTF really stepped up their game with production levels. last year it sounded like the microphone was from the 40's and it just felt janky.

Why do we opt for drawing the bracket? I get it makes for exciting matches but it just feels so unfair that some players have a harder draw than others. eg compare Chuqins route (or Hugo) to Alexis.

if we want exciting matches, have we ever considered a double elimination bracket? I get that that would be a lot of matches for the players, but it makes for really exciting losers bracket runs. I'd be very excited to see it for PP. I know chess implemented it to good audience reception.

 

[NextLevel]

I don't think Darco has chance. I predict 4:0

Darko got two games off WCQ in USA when Felix got three. While I don't think Darko will win, I wouldn't go as far as to say Darko has no chance. I will say that while it is easy to feel confident about the results of a match, I have seen enough of top players to know that these are some of the hardest working guys in our business, and it is rare to have them just give up, they are always looking for new things to try. One thing for Darko is that he has a different style and his style has always dealt reasonably well with Chinese opposition since it is focused on forehand consistency and backhand overpowering.

 

[NextLevel]

Okay this was the best session i've ever watched, including WTT.

ITTF really stepped up their game with production levels. last year it sounded like the microphone was from the 40's and it just felt janky.

Why do we opt for drawing the bracket? I get it makes for exciting matches but it just feels so unfair that some players have a harder draw than others. eg compare Chuqins route (or Hugo) to Alexis.

if we want exciting matches, have we ever considered a double elimination bracket? I get that that would be a lot of matches for the players, but it makes for really exciting losers bracket runs. I'd be very excited to see it for PP. I know chess implemented it to good audience reception.

Would be interesting, but I don't think it will fly with a best of seven, and it will need more tables for sure. Space is the bane of high level TT. It just doesn't attract more revenue for the space it takes up.

 

[NextLevel]

Not looking good for the aging GER MT despite QD/Franziska/Ovtcharov taking out CYY/ZQH/LJK (with the former two substituting on short notice), respectively. Duda's QF last year is still the best result among them.

2024
WR10 QD - 2nd of Grp (Togami 1st of Grp)
WR46 Duda - 2nd of Grp (FZD 1st of Grp)

2025
WR8 Franziska - 2nd of Grp (Gauzy 1st of Grp)
WR11 QD - 2nd of Grp (Jha 1st of Grp)
WR17 Duda - QF 3-4 WCQ
WR23 Ovtcharov - R16 3-4 Duda

2026
WR11 QD - R16 3-4 Harimoto
WR12 Duda - 2nd of Grp (Poret 1st of Grp, 3-2 Duda)
WR18 Franziska - R16 0-4 Moregard
WR27 Ovtcharov - R16 1-4 Jorgic

World Cup: Achtelfinal-Aus für Dimitrij Ovtcharov und Ying Han
https://www.tischtennis.de/news/world-cup-achtelfinal-aus-fuer-dimitrij-ovtcharov-und-ying-han.html

(The match between former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov and three-time Europe Top 16 winner Darko Jorgic was a closely contested affair with many lead changes, but the player from Fulda only managed to win the fourth set. Dimitrij Ovtcharov said after his elimination: "In the first and third sets, I led 8-7 after trailing, and in the last set, I had a chance to win it at 8-5. So there was much more in it for me than the score suggests, but unfortunately, I didn't perform well enough in the crucial moments." Nevertheless, Ovtcharov, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist who defeated four-time World Championship bronze medalist Liang Jingkun (China) in the preliminary round, drew a positive conclusion and is already looking ahead: "I'm taking away many positive aspects of my game from this World Cup, including a strong victory against Liang. That's important because the highlight of the year, the World Team Championships in London, is just around the corner – these championships will be more exciting than ever.")

World Cup: Patrick Franziska unterliegt Möregardh im Achtelfinale
https://www.tischtennis.de/news/world-cup-patrick-franziska.html

("It feels extremely tough to lose such a huge match."

"It certainly feels extremely tough to lose such a huge match," explained Qiu, who, after a strong start, had initially been able to impose his aggressive game on his opponent. The missed set point for a 3-0 lead brought about a decisive change in the match, revealed the world number eleven: "Losing the third set took away some of my momentum and reinforced Harimoto's belief that he was in the match and could win."

Qiu also emphasized his opponent's qualities: "He has incredible resilience and tenacity, always staying in the game. It was one of those matches that didn't deserve a loser." The Düsseldorf native is stung by his elimination in his first round of 16 appearance: "I would have liked to have played for a medal in the quarterfinals, to learn from this experience as well."

Despite the disappointment, the German drew an overall positive conclusion from the World Cup: "My performance was already very strong in the group stage, and I improved even further in the round of 16. I hope I have many, many more fantastic matches ahead of me. But of course, today's defeat hurts – I will learn from it, and it will make me a better player." Qiu had qualified for the finals for the first time in his third appearance, convincingly defeating, among others, the Chinese player Chen Yuanyu.)

Some of this is clearly the draw, while they all got fair matchups, I think they would have done better in a fairer draw. Poret should have gotten WCQ for sure and maybe Felix vs Alexis or Felix vs a German. In any case, WTT should think about seeding more spots in this round of 16. I liked the matches we saw, but I think that having a player like Felix go home or Dang having to play the world #3 when Poret did not is a bit much.

 

[Lando]

Where are you guy watching the matches? I can only find highlights, nothing live.

 

[NextLevel]

Where are you guy watching the matches? I can only find highlights, nothing live.

You need VPN to view from a non-US country or to go to FanDuels streaming which has the official US broadcast rights.

 

[Zezima]

for me normal youtube works

 

[NextLevel]

BYW, the fact that the rights were sold to Fanduel a betting website is all you need to know.

 

[jfolsen]

Fanduel is a 7 day trial, then pay. Pass.