🎉 Game On! With just a month to go until the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Mixed Team World Cup kicks off, the thrill is building up! 🏓 On Friday, the ITTF unveiled the 16 teams ready to battle it out in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, from December 1-8.
The lineup is star-studded, featuring teams from Australia, Canada, China, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, and the USA. 🌍✨
Host nation China 🇨🇳 is gearing up to defend its title from the inaugural 2023 edition held on home turf. The competition promises to be fiercer than ever, with an innovative three-stage format set to keep fans on the edge of their seats! 😱
Stage One: The 16 teams will be split into four groups of four. Each group will have the highest-ranked teams placed separately to spice things up. Teams will face off in a complete round-robin format, ensuring everyone gets a fair shot. 💪
Stage Two: The excitement intensifies as the top two teams from each group advance. They enter another round-robin battle, but here's the twist – teams won't replay matches from the first stage; those results carry over! 🔄
Stage Three: It's knockout time! The top four teams from the second stage rankings move to the semifinals. The first-place team clashes with the fourth-place team, while the second and third go head-to-head. Winners proceed to the grand finale 🏆, and the others compete for bronze. 🥉
In total, a whopping 52 matches will determine the ultimate champion, showcasing both consistent performance and knockout prowess. It's all about stamina and skill! 💥
The matches kick off with mixed doubles, followed by women's singles and men's singles (featuring players not in the mixed doubles). The order of the fourth and fifth matches—women's doubles and men's doubles—is chosen by the captain of the lower-ranked team after the first match. Strategy is key! 🧠
All individual matches are best-of-three games, and team matches wrap up when one side wins eight games. Quick, intense, and full of action! ⚡
Stay tuned, table tennis fans! This is going to be an epic showdown you won't want to miss. Let the countdown begin! ⏳🔥
Reference(s):
16 teams selected to compete at ITTF Mixed Team World Cup unveiled
cgtn.com
