Draws announced for GAC Group 2011 World Table Tennis Championships – Table Tennis news
The draws for the GAC Group 2011 World Championships were held at the magnificent Ahoy Arena on May 6.
The event is going to start on May 8, 2011 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The event is considered to be the most prestigious one on the table tennis circuit.
The draws ceremony was attended by notable names of the table tennis circuit, Yoo Nam-Kyu and Kang Hee Chan from Korea. In addition, h*i Jun and Li Huifen from Hong Kong were also present besides other top table tennis players.
The draws were conducted by Werner Thury from Austria. A lot of time was consumed to prepare the draws for the seeded players participating in the championship.
There was a misconception that the division of World Championships into team and individual events will reduce the number of participants in the events. But the number of players participating in the GAC GROUP 2011 World Table Tennis Championships is the
clear evidence that the event is very special for the table tennis players around the world. The hopes to win a place on the medal rostrum are not high for most of the countries participating in the championship.
There are 128 players in the men’s singles main draw. It features the top 64 seeded players, along with 32 players who received a direct entry in the main rounds. There would be 32 players who will make it to the main rounds after the qualification group
rounds. This means that out of 404 men’s entries, 308 players have to compete in the qualification rounds. The qualification rounds features 102 groups, with three players in each group.
There is a possibility that the player to make a place in the main rounds will have to compete in five matches. The competition will be very tough for the players to reach the main rounds.
In women’s singles, there are 293 entries comprising of 64 seeded and 32 direct entries. The rest of the players have to compete in the qualifiers. There would be 59 groups with three players on each group. In addition, there would be five groups with four
players giving a total of 64 groups in the women’s singles qualification rounds.
In the mixed doubles category, there are 128 places in the first main round. There would be top 64 pairs along with 32 pairs who received direct entries for the main round. There would be 106 pairs competing in the qualifiers which will be contested on knockout
basis.
The Chinese players have directly booked a place in the main rounds as they are the top seed of the International Table Tennis Federation world singles rankings. Following them are players from Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. There would be a fierce fight in
the qualification rounds of the championship.
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