http://ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=28775&Competition_ID=2175&Sadly this is becoming a farce. Most observers who have been paying attention could tell you that Ma Long has been the world's best player for over a year now. The current system of rules dos not work. Essentially after earning the title at the WTTC, Zhang Jike has been gifted the World Cup and Olympics because the rules have decreed that Wang Hao must be the 2nd delegate for those events, based obsolete rankings. Wang Hao's level has been nowhere near Ma Long, Zhang Jike, or Xu Xin's for the past year. (If you think that's an exaggeration, consider that he is a combined 0-7) against these players since last year's WTTC.
Photo by: Scott Heavey/Getty Images EuropeA specific question: why is Xu Xin selected as the "Asian continental champion"? Ma Long won both the Asian Cup and the Asian Championships this past year. Though I try to remain as impartial as possible, it's hard not to feel that something very unfair to Ma Long is going on.
Invited PlayersInvitations have been sent as follows:World Cup Holder and World Champion: Zhang Jike (China)European Representative: Timo Boll (Germany)Asian Representative: Xu Xin (China)Latin American Representative: Thiago Monteiro (Brazil)African Representative: Ahmed Saleh (Egypt)Oceania Representative: William Henzell (Australia)North American Representative: Pierre-Luc Theriault (Canada)Host Nation Representative: Paul Drinkhall (England)World Ranking: Jun Mizutani (Japan), Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Germany), Joo Saehyuk (Korea), Oh Sangeun (Korea), Gao Ning (Singapore), Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus), Jiang Tianyi (Hong Kong), Koki Niwa (Japan)ITTF Wild Card: Michael Maze (Denmark)ITTF Wild Card: Liam Pitchford (England)Reserve No.1: Adrian Crisan (Romania)Reserve No.2: Marcos Freitas (Portugal)
