TABLE TENNIS Preview: Top-ranked Zhendong Fan and Ning Ding headline Korea Open

Chinese star Ning Ding (Photo: Wikipedia)

The sixth of 13 stops on the 2019 ITTF World Tour is in Busan, Korea. It’s the fourth straight tournament in Asia; the circuit will go to Australia next and then head to Europe for the final five events prior to the Grand Final. The fields are excellent; the top seeds (with Singles World Rankings):

Men/Singles:
1. Zhendong Fan (CHN: 1) ~ 2017 Worlds silver medalist
2. Xin Xu (CHN: 3) ~ 2017 Worlds bronze medalist
3. Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN: 4)

Men/Doubles:
1. Youngsik Jeoung/Sangsu Lee (KOR)
2. Kwan Kit Ho/Chun Ting Wong (HKG)
3. Woojin Jang/Jonghoon Lim (KOR)

Women/Singles:
1. Ning Ding (CHN: 1) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion; 2011-15-17 World Champion
2. Meng Chen (CHN: 2) ~ 2019 Worlds silver medalist
3. Manyu Wang (CHN: 3) ~ 2019 Worlds bronze medalist

Women/Doubles:
1. Meng Chen/Manyu Wang (CHN)
2. Barbora Balasova (SVK)/Hana Matelova (CZE)
3. Ho Ching Lee/Wai Yam Soo (KOR)

Mixed Doubles:
1. Xin Xu/Shiwen Liu (CHN)
2. Chun Ting Wong/Hoi Kem Doo (HKG)
3. Maharu Yoshimura/Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN)

The men’s Singles draw also includes 2016 Olympic gold medalist and 2015-17-19 World Champion Long Ma; the women’s draw includes 2019 World Champion Shiwen Liu of China.

Look for match schedules and results here.