Beijing, the Goal for the World’s Stars in Bremen
November 7, 2007

Guo Yue Photo Courtesy of ITTF

Courtesy of ITTF The one city on planet earth that is uppermost in the minds of many of the world’s most celebrated athletes is Beijing. In fact it is the city that every day assumes a greater importance for most of the world’s leading sporting personalities, to compete in the Olympic Games in 2008 in the Chinese capital is the goal. Table tennis is no exception and when the first service is executed at the Liebherr German Open today, November 7, 2007, the clock in Tiananmen Square will indicate that there are two hundred and seventy-four days left before the Opening Ceremony announces the start of three hundred events in twenty-eight sports at the 29th Olympic Games of the modern era.

Early Engagement
However before Olympic thoughts take over the minds of the world’s leading table tennis players, there is an earlier engagement in Beijing, the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals to be held from December 13th to 16th, 2007.

The event is one of the most prestigious on the calendar of the International Table Tennis Federation and the importance of the competition is reflected in the entry that has been received for the Liebherr German Open in Bremen, the sixteenth and penultimate tournament on this year’s ITTF Pro Tour.

Top Sixteen
In the Men’s and Women’s Singles the top sixteen players qualify for the Volkswagen Pro Grand Finals with the proviso of having played in six open international tournaments on the ITTF Pro Tour in 2007 or in three continents.

The top sixteen must included one representative from the host nation and with China being the host that is a foregone conclusion!

China
The Men’s Singles Standings sees six Chinese players in qualification positions and the Women’s Singles Standings five. Furthermore, the chances of these players not qualifying for the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals when the Swedish Open in Stockholm on November 18, 2007 brings the travels to an end is zero.

In the current Men’s Singles Standings, Ma Lin, Wang Hao, Ma Long, Chen Qi and Wang Liqin occupy the top five positions with Hao Shuai in ninth place, while in the counterpart female standings, Guo Yue, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining and Guo Yan are in the top four places with Li Xiaoxia seventh.

Three Missing
Only Hao Shuai and the players who contested the final of the Women’s Singles event at last week’s Liebherr French Open, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining are missing from the Chinese contingent at the Liebherr German Open while of the those from other countries, of the top sixteen men of the current ITTF Pro Tour Men’s Singles Standings, all are present in Bremen while for the women, the only one missing is Lin Ling.

At the Liebherr German Open, a place in Beijing is the aim; not only in August 2008 but in December 2007.