WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 DAY 4 - 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 are vying for a total prize purse of USD 400,000. The event is being played in the Lusail Sports Arena. Opened in 2014, the multi-purpose hall has hosted several major sporting events and has been transformed into the brand new WTT arena where it is set to showcase the sport like never seen before. Top stars including Japanese 17-year-old wonderkid, Tomokazu Harimoto and trailblazer Lily Zhang are joined by international athletes from all around the world such as Hugo Calderano, Mattias Falck, Mima Ito, Adriana Diaz and more. DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS • Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic contributed one of the shocks of the day after successfully fighting back from two games down to stun Brazil’s Hugo Calderano 3-2 (8-11, 6-11, 12- 10, 11-7, 13-11). • Saving two match points against the number two seed, Jorgic advances to the men’s singles quarter-finals where he will meet Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson, who also caused an upset, beating French number 12 seed Simon Gauzy (11-6, 11-7, 11-6). • Crowned champion at WTT Contender Doha, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who won last week’s WTT Contender Doha, confirmed his place in the last eight with a 3-0 victory over India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta (11-9, 11-8, 11-6). • Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju also remains in the title hunt when he beat Austria’s Robert Gardos 3-1 (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 15-13). Lin will take on another European opposition in the #WTTDOHA 1 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 shape of Germany’s Ruwen Filus, who took down Japan’s Jun Mizutani 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-8). • Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching, the number two seed, failed to reach the women’s singles quarter-finals after falling to Japan’s Hina Hayata (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8). • Number three seed Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan also fell to Romania’s Elizabeta Samara after losing (13-11, 11-9, 12-10). • In the women’s doubles match, Japanese teenagers Satsuki Odo and Sakura Yokoi, both 16 years of age, combined effectively to beat Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu and Cheng Hsien-Tzu in straight games (11-9, 11-6, 11-8). • Spain’s Alvaro Robles and Romania’s Ovidiu Ionescu produced another strong performance in the men’s doubles quarter-finals as the 2019 World Championships silver medallists delivered a commanding knockout blow to Iran’s Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9). LOOKING AHEAD • Top seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan will take his imperious run of form into the quarter-final where he will meet Korea Republic’s Jeoung Youngsik. • Harimoto and Jeoung commence their battle for a place in the semi-final of the men’s singles at 14:00pm (local time) on table one. • The 17-year-old Japanese has made a stunning impact this week since receiving a bye in the first round, crushing India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-8) in the round of 32 before whitewashing Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna 3-0 (11-4, 13-11, 11-7). • Jeoung meanwhile sealed his passage into his showdown with Harimoto after coming back from a game down to beat Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3). • Singapore’s Feng Tianwei will meet Japan’s Hina Hayata for the third time in the women’s singles quarter-final, scheduled to start at 10:00am (local time) on table one. • Feng has played against Hayata twice, winning one of their previous encounters. The last time Feng made it into the top eight of a women's singles competition was at last March's ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open in Doha, where she eventually lost to Japan's Mima Ito. • Hayata, who finished runner-up in last week’s WTT Contender Doha, made light work of Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching, defeating her 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8) while Feng #WTTDOHA 2 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 secured her spot in quarter-final after beating Chinese Taipei's Chen Szu-yu 3-2 (11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-9). • Japan’s Mima Ito and Adriana Diaz, who is the first female table tennis player to represent Puerto Rico on the Olympic stage in 2016, go head-to-head on table one at 12:00 (local time). 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. • 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: #WTTDOHA 3 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 • More players automatically entered into event instead of having to play qualifying • Ranking Points earned for playing both Qualifying + Main Draw KEY DATES / TIMES 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. 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: #WTTDOHA 4 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 - 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) 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) • 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) #WTTDOHA 5 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 EVENT SCHEDULE 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 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 #WTTDOHA 6 WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 Main Draw: 08 - 13 March USD 400,000 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