The draw for the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals was made at the Busan e-Sports Arena on Tuesday, with South Korea set to host the event for the first time.
As defending champions, China occupy the top-seeded positions in both men’s and women’s team events at the tournament, which will be held in Busan from February 16 to 25.
In the women’s team draw, China are placed in Group 1 with Hungary, India, Spain and Uzbekistan. Led by world No. 1 Sun Yingsha, China are chasing their 23rd title in the event, Xinhua reports.
In the men’s team category, the world’s top two players Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin will spearhead China’s campaign. Their title defense will start with group matches against Croatia, Hungary, Belgium and Cuba.
Both men’s and women’s team events will see eight groups of five teams looking to advance to the knockout rounds. Each match is decided by best-of-five singles matches, with individual matches being best-of-five games. Each group will play a round robin, with each team facing off against the other four teams in their group.
After the round robin is completed, the top three teams from each group advance to the knockout phase, meaning 24 teams advance in total. Group winners will receive seeded positions, with the rest drawn into the knockout rounds in a way that ensures teams from the same group won’t meet again in the first round.