WTT Star Contender Ljubljana 2026 June 16-21

[pongfugrasshopper]

World Table Tennis

www.worldtabletennis.com

This week's tournament is a Star Contender that takes place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It seems to be popular among the Japanese athletes with 8 men (3 main/5 qualification) and 11 women (9 main/2 qualification).

 

[FIXPOINT]

WTT Star Contender Ljubljana 2026 WS QLF R2

WTT Star Contender Ljubljana 2026 MS QLF R2

 

[Kopp]

Now Fang Bo played like Fang Bo 😂

It looks like he is more comfortable playing in bigger venues. The venue at WTT Contender Zagreb 2026 seemed a bit too small.

 

[FIXPOINT]

Scheduled Matches:
All times are local time.
Live streaming: https://www.youtube.com/wttglobal

Wed, 17th Jun 2026
11:00 T1 WS QLF R2 Xiaoxin YANG(MON) - Cocona MURAMATSU(JPN)
11:00 T2 WS QLF R2 Audrey ZARIF(FRA) - PENG Yu-Han(TPE)
11:00 T3 WS QLF R2 ZONG Geman(CHN) - ZHU Sibing(CHN)
11:00 T4 WS QLF R2 Barbora VARADY(SVK) - Xiaona SHAN(GER)
11:35 T1 MS QLF R2 KWAN Man Ho(HKG) - Satoshi AIDA(JPN)
11:35 T2 MS QLF R2 Alan KURMANGALIYEV(KAZ) - Ryoichi YOSHIYAMA(JPN)
11:35 T3 WS QLF R2 FAN Shuhan(CHN) - SER Lin Qian(SGP)
11:35 T4 WS QLF R2 WANG Xiaotong(CHN) - HAN Feier(CHN)
12:10 T1 WS QLF R2 YANG Yiyun(CHN) - YOO Siwoo(KOR)
12:10 T2 WS QLF R2 Sachi AOKI(JPN) - KIM Eunseo(KOR)
12:10 T3 MS QLF R2 YUAN Licen(CHN) - Csaba ANDRAS(HUN)
12:10 T4 MS QLF R2 Ricardo WALTHER(GER) - Iskender KHARKI(KAZ)
12:45 T1 WS QLF R2 Karoline MISCHEK(AUT) - Yashaswini GHORPADE(IND)
12:45 T2 WS QLF R2 TAN Zhao Yun(SGP) - PARK Gahyeon(KOR)
12:45 T3 MS QLF R2 WOO Hyeonggyu(KOR) - PARK Gyuhyeon(KOR)
12:45 T4 MS QLF R2 Angel NARANJO(PUR) - Yang WANG(SVK)
13:20 T1 MS QLF R2 HUANG Youzheng(CHN) - FANG Bo(KAZ)
13:20 T2 MS QLF R2 CHAN Baldwin(HKG) - QUEK Izaac(SGP)
13:20 T3 MS QLF R2 Vladislav URSU(MDA) - CHANG Yu-An(TPE)
13:20 T4 MS QLF R2 Filip ZELJKO(CRO) - LI Tianyang(CHN)
13:55 T1 WD QLF R1 KUKULKOVA(SVK)/VARADY(SVK) - DRAGOMAN(ROU)/DIACONU(ROU)
13:55 T2 WD QLF R1 RYU(KOR)/YOO(KOR) - SER(SGP)/ZENG(SGP)
13:55 T3 WD QLF R1 LUTZ(FRA)/PAVADE(FRA) - POLCANOVA(AUT)/YUAN(FRA)
13:55 T4 WD QLF R1 SHAN(GER)/WAN(GER) - KAUFMANN(GER)/WINTER(GER)
14:30 T1 MD QLF R1 BHATTACHARJEE(IND)/JAIN(IND) - XIANG(CHN)/CHEN(CHN)
14:30 T2 MD QLF R1 BAN(CRO)/GACINA(CRO) - GAUZY(FRA)/PORET(FRA)
14:30 T3 MD QLF R1 UDA(JPN)/HAMADA(JPN) - YOSHIYAMA(JPN)/KOBAYASHI(JPN)
14:30 T4 MD QLF R1 CHUA(SGP)/KWAN(HKG) - FENG(TPE)/KUO(TPE)
17:00 T1 XD QLF R1 PORET(FRA)/LUTZ(FRA) - BAN(CRO)/ARAPOVIC(CRO)
17:00 T2 XD QLF R1 OH(KOR)/JOO(KOR) - YUAN(CHN)/QIN(CHN)
17:00 T3 XD QLF R1 PISTEJ(SVK)/KUKULKOVA(SVK) - FRANZISKA(GER)/KAUFMANN(GER)
17:00 T4 XD QLF R1 WEN(CHN)/KUAI(CHN) - JAIN(IND)/DAS(IND)

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

 

[KiwiPong]

View attachment 42112

!?? What happened?

 

[chandyrandy]

Is Fang Bo using Quanshibao???

 

[Janard]

Excited for FB against HYZ, or rather for FB to win

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

!?? What happened?

Nothing yet. That's a first round main draw matchup that should draw a lot of interest. The big question is will Miu Hirano have a relapse of her shocking defeat at the 2025 WTTC, or will she get sweet revenge.

 

[NextLevel]

Excited for FB against HYZ, or rather for FB to win

He has no chance lol. (Famous last words from me lol).

 

[canonFH]

Is Fang Bo using Quanshibao???

He's been sending rockets with his BH. Either the blade is Super carbon or the Dignics he's using is juiced to the gills.

 

[Kopp]

Youzheng Huang is simply too strong for Fang Bo. Huang is on a different level. Fang Bo just isn't there yet or maybe he never will be.

 

[Peter93]

Is Fang Bo using Quanshibao???

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Just the blade.

 

[Attitude]

Youzheng Huang is simply too strong for Fang Bo. Huang is on a different level. Fang Bo just isn't there yet or maybe he never will be.

His shots are way too inconsistent.
Openings i would say are fine, but there are way too many attacks that are not getting over the net.

 

[NextLevel]

Youzheng Huang is simply too strong for Fang Bo. Huang is on a different level. Fang Bo just isn't there yet or maybe he never will be.

Don't know how old you are, but if you are of a certain age, you understand what is going on better than the young ones who have yet to experience it' lol. More seriously, I dont think Fang Bo is the kind of player to beat a young CNT player on tour even if he could.

 

[KiwiPong]

.,.

Nothing yet. That's a first round main draw matchup that should draw a lot of interest. The big question is will Miu Hirano have a relapse of her shocking defeat at the 2025 WTTC, or will she get sweet revenge.

lol I see!
Yes now i remember this was the player Hirano had a mental collapse the last time!

 

[ajtatosmano2]

Fang Bo's serve game is amazing. But the receives, especially the backhand flick were way too inconsistent.
Wang Yang lost to Narajo. He started attacking way too late, he does this every time. Despite being a defender he somehow lacks the mental awareness.
And András Csaba lost to Yuan Licen in the decider, total mental collapse in the last set. His shot quality was a league above Yuan's yet he can't convert. I feel like this is a trend, european players have stronger attacks, better distant play, but lack in the receive game and stability.

 

[Nima Abadi]

Don't know how old you are, but if you are of a certain age, you understand what is going on better than the young ones who have yet to experience it' lol. More seriously, I dont think Fang Bo is the kind of player to beat a young CNT player on tour even if he could.

Dude, he's not 40. He's the same age as Patrick Franziska, and much younger than Dima or Ma Long, both of whom where still were in top form when they were 34.

Aruna easily beat Huang Youzheng last year and he was 2 years older than Fang Bo is now when he did it. It's not like he's losing to elite level players either.

He's simply not in top form and it's not his age. Compared to his level, his receives are really inconsistent and bad (we saw this in the previous tournament as well), his backhand was never great but it's gotten even worse with the fast rubber that he's using, his forehand consistency in terms of looping over and over again is low.

He's also playing a weird mix of old style/new style and that crazy fast backhand rubber is not helping him either (might actually be the source of all those inconsistent flicks).

 

[NextLevel]

Dude, he's not 40. He's the same age as Patrick Franziska, and much younger than Dima or Ma Long, both of whom where still were in top form when they were 34.

Aruna easily beat Huang Youzheng last year and he was 2 years older than Fang Bo is now when he did it. It's not like he's losing to elite level players either.

He's simply not in top form and it's not his age. Compared to his level, his receives are really inconsistent and bad (we saw this in the previous tournament as well), his backhand was never great but it's gotten even worse with the fast rubber that he's using, his forehand consistency in terms of looping over and over again is low.

He's also playing a weird mix of old style/new style and that crazy fast backhand rubber is not helping him either (might actually be the source of all those inconsistent flicks).

A couple of things and this is purely my opinion - Fang Bo is one of those players who really believes in the CNT. At this point in his career, I suspect he might not be motivated enough to beat one of them even if he had the ability to, because he would know the ramifications on them.

Secondly, everything about his playing level and age is all opinion. CNT players have often done more training in 25 years than non-European players not named Dima have done in a lifetime. It's not just the competition that leads CNT players to retire early, the physical stress and the style that causes early decline is real. It is good that Fang wants to come back after taking a break, but the level of physicality he needs to get his form back is for anyone to guess, but I personally wouldn't be surprised that unless he can make compromises, he will mostly enjoy the support of Kazakhstan and not do anything ground breaking. For me, Fang's biggest period of success was when we had the crappy plastic ball. People's opinions on the impact of that may differ but mine is universally negative. No one gets better as they get older. Just pointing that out.

 

[NextLevel]

Not your everyday point:

Losing a point like this sucks:

Fortunately, such crazy shots did not work all the time:

Gacina gets lucky with some Koki Niwa training: