Table tennis Champions at the Qatar Open
Qatar will be hosting the International Table Tennis Federation Pro Tour Qatar Open starting from the 9th to 13th February, 2011. Men's and Women's singles events along with the Under-21 Men's and Women's singles events
are to be held at the Tournament. This will be the 15th Pro Tour Event to be held at Doha.
The Qatar open will be the most exciting tournament of 2011, as the top players of the circuit will be seen in action. There are over 202 entries from almost 40 countries of Asia, Europe and Africa. Kalinikos Kreanga from Greece who recently won the title
of European Table Tennis Union Top-12 has withdrawn his entry. This year, many entries are still to be confirmed for the final events.
The top players who have confirmed their entries include the exciting world number one Timo Boll from Germany. From China, MA Long, Wang Hao and Zhang Jike ranked two, three and four, have been entered. Also from China, MA Lin, Xu Xin, and Wang Liqin ranked
six, eight and nine, are entered. Of the top ten players in the February world ranking, six are from China and they will be seen in action at the Championship.
The fifth ranked Russian Vladimir Samsonov, is not participating in the event this year. Seventh ranked Mizutani Jun from Japan is the youngest player to participate in the event, turning 22 this year. He is the winner of the ITTF Pro Tour Grand final. Timo
won the ITTF Men's singles event in 2009 in Doha against Ma Lin. Table tennis fans are looking forward to a re-match of the match if they both reach the finals.
In the women's side, the top players in action at the tournament are from China. World number one Li Xiaoxia, Gua Yan and Guo Yue, ranked two and four are participating. Also from China, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen ranked number five and six, are entered.
The world number three Fang Tianwei and number nine Wang Yuegu have sent in their entries from Singapore. From Japan world number nine Ishikawa and number ten Fukuhara Ai will be seen in action, Korean player Kim Kyung currently holding number eight position
will also be competing for the title.
Ding Ning who is the winner of the ITTF English Open Pro Tour in January will be the strongest competitor on the women's side. She will be defending her title in the Pro Tour as she will be competing with her compatriot the number one player Li Xiaoxia.
The favourite player of the tournament is Timo Boll, who holds the 2009 ITTF Qatar Open Pro Tour title, beating Chinese Ma Lin in what was considered to be the best final ever witnessed at the ITTF Pro Tours tournaments. The table tennis fans are looking
forward to witness history repeat itself once again in Qatar.
The local and international table tennis lovers are anxiously waiting for the tournament to begin, as it is considered to be one of the most exciting events of the Pro Tours circuit. It will be exciting to see some of the world’s top table tennis players
battle it out for top honours at the Qatar Open.
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