Day 2 - Media Notes

WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 DAY 2 - MEDIA NOTES WTT STAR CONTENDER DOHA 2021 OVERVIEW CITY: Doha, QATAR SITE: Lusail Sports Arena DATES: 8 – 13 March 2021 TABLE BRAND: Double Fish BALL BRAND: DHS FLOOR BRAND: Gerflor MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected] PRIZE MONEY: USD 400,000 Welcome to World Table Tennis (WTT). This is the first edition of WTT Star Contender and is the second official event of the WTT era. Players competing in WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 will be vying for a total prize purse of USD 400,000. The event will be played in the Lusail Sports Arena. Opened in 2014, the multi-purpose hall has hosted several major sporting events and will be transformed into the brand new WTT arena, set to showcase the sport as never seen before. Top stars including Japanese wonderkid, Tomokazu Harimoto and trailblazer Lily Zhang will be joined by international athletes from all around the world such as Hugo Calderano, Mattias Falck, Mima Ito, Adriana Diaz and more. DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS • To mark International Women’s Day and showcase the female stars of table tennis, all eight available singles matches were scheduled as women’s singles matches. • Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek rescued four match point opportunities to beat Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11) to advance to the next round. • Eight-time Africa Cup champion Dina Meshref proved too hot to handle for Korea Republic’s Choi Hyojoo, whitewashing her 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-8). • Russia’s Yana Noskova staged a gallant comeback, recovering from a two-game deficit to see off Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut 3-2 (5-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4). #WTTDOHA 1 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 • The Top 16 players receive a BYE in the round of 64 and will automatically progress to the Round of 32. • In the mixed doubles, French teenage star Prithika Pavade, 16, and senior colleague Tristan Flore eliminated fifth seeds from Romania, Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs in straight games (11-9, 11-8, 11-9). LOOKING AHEAD • An exciting rematch between Korea Republic’s Jaehyun An and Sweden’s Mattias Falck is on the cards after the Korean beat Germany’s Benedikt Duda (11-7, 13-11, 12-14, 11- 5). In a seven-game thriller at the ITTF World Championships in 2019, Falck took down An to reach his first men’s singles final in 22 years then. • Top seed Japanese, Tomokazu Harimoto takes on India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran as he gets his campaign at the WTT Star Contender Doha underway. Harimoto was denied a podium finish at the WTT Contender Doha after he lost to eventual champion, Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany last week. • Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju, who is seeded third and finished runner-up last week at the WTT Contender Doha goes into battle with Portugal’s Joao Monteiro. • Japan’s Mima Ito, who become the first WTT women’s singles champion when she won the WTT Contender Doha last week, will play India’s Manika Batra while WTT Contender Doha runner-up Hina Hayata meets Korea Republic’s Nayeong Kim. EVENT - FAST FACTS • The WTT Star Contender Series features the Play Down Restriction (PDR) rule, which limits the maximum number of top 20 players allowed to compete in the events. • At WTT Star Contender Doha 2021, the Play Down Restriction is increased due to COVID-19 and that it has been almost 12 months since international competition has been available to all players. • The Play Down Top 20 Restriction was increased from 4 to 8 for WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 • The Mixed Doubles main draw was increased from 8 to 16 pairs to provide players the opportunity to earn rankings points in a bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. • The draw structure has also been revamped to make the competitions fairer, more exciting and more competitive. #WTTDOHA 2 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 • WTT may elect to nominate a player to participate in the event - this player is known as a WTT Nomination and entered into the entry list as a wildcard. • Men’s Singles: Liam PITCHFORD/Simon GAUZY • Women’s Singles: Adriana DIAZ • Wild Cards are determined 7 days prior to event • Men’s Singles: FRANZISKA Patrick, NIWA Koki, MIZUTANI Jun, AL-MOHANNADI Ahmad Khalil • Women’s Singles: Maria XIAO • Men’s Doubles: Mohammed ABDULWAHHAB/Ahmed Khalil AL-MOHANNADI • Women’s Doubles: Maha FARAMARZI/Ala MOHAMED & Maha ALI/Maryam ALI • Key changes to the Draw include: • More players automatically entered into event instead of having to play qualifying • Ranking Points earned for playing both Qualifying + Main Draw KEY DATES / TIMES 09 March 2021, 10:00 @ Lusail Sports Arena – Main Draw Day 2 10 March 2021, 10:00 @ Lusail Sports Arena – Main Draw Day 3 11 March 2021, 10:00 @ Lusail Sports Arena – Quarterfinal 12 March 2021, 14:00 @ Lusail Sports Arena – Semi Finals 13 March 2021, 10:00 @ Lusail Sports Arena – Finals EVENT DISCIPLINES As a WTT Star Contender event, 5 different discipline will be contested: - Men’s Singles - Women’s Singles - Men’s Doubles - Women’s Doubles - Mixed Doubles PLAYING SYSTEM The Main Draw matches will be conducted in a knockout format. #WTTDOHA 3 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 Main Draw: The Main Draw for the 2021 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 will involve the following: - 48-Draw Men’s Singles - 48-Draw Women’s Singles - 16-Draw Men’s Doubles - 16-Draw Women’s Doubles - 16-Draw Mixed Doubles MATCH FORMAT / SCORING The event will be played in accordance with the Laws of Table Tennis and the Regulations for International Competitions. Singles Main Draw to Quarterfinals: - Best of 5 games/11 points - Winner need to win by 2 for all games Semi-finals and Final - Best of 7 games/11 points - Winner need to win by 2 for all games Doubles All Matches: - Best of 5 games/11 points - Winner need to win by 2 for all games TOP SEEDS Men’s Singles: Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN) Women’s Singles: Mima ITO (JPN) Men’s Doubles: LEE Sangsu / JEOUNG Youngsik (KOR) Women’s Doubles: Kasumi ISHIKAWA / Miu HIRANO (JPN) #WTTDOHA 4 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 Mixed Doubles: Jun MIZUTANI / Mima ITO (JPN) PLAYERS – FAST FACTS Youngest men’s singles player: Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN) (17) Oldest men’s singles player: Vladimir SAMSONOV (BEL) (45) Youngest women’s singles player: KIM Nayeong (KOR) (15) Oldest women’s singles player: SHAN Xiaona (GER) (38) Men’s Doubles Pair Oldest Pairing: Robert GARDOS & Daniel HABESOHN (18 years) Women’s Doubles Pair Oldest Pairing: MONTEIRO DODEAN Daniela & SAMARA Elizabeta (17 years) • Tomokazu HARIMOTO and Hugo CALDERANO are 2 and 3 wins respectively away from their 100th career win. • Seeded at No. 2, LIN and CHENG are ranked World No. 1 for Women’s Doubles. • The youngest players in this event all hail from Korea or Japan. • Korea: KIM Nayeong (16 years old), SHIN Yubin (17 years old), CHO Daeseong (18 years old) • Japan: Miyuu KIHARA (16 years old), Satsuki ODO (16 years old), Tomokazu HARIMOTO (17 years old) EVENT SCHEDULE 09 MARCH DAY TWO SESSION 1 Starting At: 10:00 Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 followed by Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 SESSION 2 Not before 14:00 Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 followed by Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 32 SESSION 3 #WTTDOHA 5 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 Not before 18:00 Men’s Doubles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Men’s Doubles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Women’s Doubles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Women’s Doubles – ROUND OF 16 End of Day 10 MARCH DAY THREE SESSION 1 Starting At: 10:00 Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 SESSION 2 Not before 14:00 Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Women’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 followed by Men’s Singles – ROUND OF 16 SESSION 3 Not before 18:00 Women’s Doubles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Women’s Doubles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Men’s Doubles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Men’s Doubles – QUARTERFINALS End of Day 11 MARCH DAY FOUR SESSION 1 Starting At: 10:00 Women’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Women’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Women’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Women’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS SESSION 2 14:00 Men’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Men’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Men’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Men’s Singles – QUARTERFINALS #WTTDOHA 6 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 SESSION 3 Not before 19:00 Mixed Doubles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Mixed Doubles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Mixed Doubles – QUARTERFINALS followed by Mixed Doubles – QUARTERFINALS End of Day 12 MARCH DAY FIVE SESSION 1 Starting At: 14:00 Women’s Singles – SEMIFINALS followed by Women’s Singles – SEMIFINALS followed by Men’s Singles – SEMIFINALS followed by Men’s Singles – SEMIFINALS SESSION 3 Not before 19:00 Mixed Doubles – SEMIFINALS followed by Mixed Doubles – SEMIFINALS End of Day 13 MARCH DAY SIX SESSION 1 Starting At: 10:00 Women’s Doubles –FINALS followed by Men’s Doubles – FINALS followed by Mixed Doubles – FINALS 15:00 Women’s Singles – FINALS 15:45 Men’s Singles – FINALS End of Day PRIZE MONEY & WR POINTS Total Prize Purse: US$ 400,000 / US$ 196,000 per gender (+ US$ 8,000 XD) Distribution by Event Singles:

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