CITY: Linz, Austria SITE: Sportzentrum Lissfeld Hausleitnerweg 105, 4020 Linz, Austria DATE: 17-19 October 2014 PLAYERS: 20 TABLES: 2 TABLE BRAND: DHS BALL BRAND: DHS FLOOR BRAND: Enlio MEDIA CONTACT: ITTF Promotion Manager Matt Pound: mpound@ittfmail.com, +6586544715 Wolfgang Paulik: w.paulik@chello.at, +43 676 400 7525 Introduction Welcome to the 2014 Women s World Cup, which is the second most prestigious table tennis event of the year after the World Table Tennis Championships and is contested by 20 players. The 2014 Women s World Cup will be held in the Sportzentrum Lissfeld, Austria. It is the first time the event has been held in the country, and also held out of Asia. The 20 players taking part at the Women s World Cup qualified through their Continental Cup s, apart from the current World Champion LI Xiaoxia (CHN) and the wildcard player Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU). This preview is designed to provide an update on the 2014 Women s World Cup. Enclosed are statistics and notes that will be of assistance during the tournament. Players biographies as well as statistical, historical and personal data can be found on ITTF.com. Please make player interview requests through a member of the ITTF media staff located in the pressroom. Key Dates/Times 16 October 2014, 4:00pm @ Hotel IBIS Styles Draw for Stage 1 17 October 2014, 10:00am @ Sportzentrum Lissfeld Day 1, stage 1 17 October 2014, 6:00pm @ TBD Draw for stage 2 18 October 2014, 10:00am @ Sportzentrum Lissfeld Day 2, stage 2 18 October 2014, 6:00pm @ Sportzentrum Lissfeld Quarter-finals 19 October 2014, 12:00pm @ Sportzentrum Lissfeld Day 3, semi-finals 19 October 2014, 4:30pm @ Sportzentrum Lissfeld Day 3, match for 3 rd place 19 October 2014, 5:15pm @ Sportzentrum Lissfeld Day 3, final Qualification 2014 ITTF WOMEN S WORLD CUP MEDIA KIT The 20 players who are contesting the 2014 Women s World Cup comprises of: The current World Champion 17 players who have qualified through their respective Continental Cups If no players qualify from the host association through the above avenues, a host association player may nominate a player The final player is chosen by the ITTF as a wildcard. If the World Champion is not available or withdraws, he/she shall be replaced by the remaining highest ranked and highest finisher from the Continental Cups Page 1 of 6
How the 17 places are determined through the Continental Cup: The winner of each Continental Cup, plus the second and third highest finishers from Asia and Europe qualify, for a total of 10 players. Seven additional players are being selected from the Continental Cups based on their order of finishing and their World Ranking. The highest ranked player amongst players finishing second in Africa, Latin America, North America, Oceania, and fourth in Asia and Europe, are selected. The highest ranked next player from the remaining players in the top most place on the qualifying positions from each Continental Cup, are selected, and so on, until the seven places are filled. Qualified Players # WR October 2014 Player Qualification Method 1 3 LI Xiaoxia (CHN1) World Champion 2 112 MESHREF Dina (EGY) African Cup winner 3 1 DING Ning (CHN2) Asian Cup winner 4 116 KUMAHARA Caroline (BRA) Latin American Cup winner 5 103 ZHANG Mo (CAN) North American Cup winner 6 120 LAY Jian Fang (AUS) Oceania Cup Winner 7 13 LIU Jia (AUT) Europe Cup Winner 8 37 CHENG I-Ching (TPE) Substitution 9 9 ISHIKAWA Kasumi (JPN1) Substitution 10 20 LI Jiao (NED) Europe Cup 3 rd place 11 17 HIRANO Sayaka (JPN2) Substitution 12 14 LEE Ho Ching (HKG1) Asian Cup 5 th place 13 10 SEO Hyowon (KOR) Substitution 14 34 SOLJA Petrissa (GER1) Europe Cup 4 th place 15 29 WU Jiaduo (GER2) Europe Cup 5 th place 16 26 POTA Georgina (HUN) Europe Cup 6 th place 17 JIANG Huajun (HKG2) Substitution 18 45 VACENOVSKA Iveta (CZE) Europe Cup 7 th place 19 32 HU Melek (TUR) Substitution 20 15 SAMARA Elizabeta (ROU) Wild Card Playing System The LIEBHERR 2014 Women s World Cup consists of two stages: Stage One In stage one, the players seeded nine to 20 (12 players) are drawn into four equal groups of three players, with all members of a group playing each other. Players seeded 9th, 10th, 11th and 12 th head each group A, B, C and D respectively. Players seeded 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th are drawn randomly into the second position of each preliminary group. Page 2 of 6
The remaining players seeded 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th are drawn randomly into the third and last position in each preliminary group. If there are 2 players from the same Association, they will be drawn into separate groups. The top 2 finishers of each preliminary group shall join the top 8 seeded players in the second stage of the competition Stage Two Stage two is knock-out stage of the competition. The draws for seeded 1 st 8 th will be done according to ITTF Regulations. Seed 1 placed in position 1, seed 2 placed in position 16 Seeds 3 and 4 drawn between position 8 and 9 Seeds 5-8 drawn randomly into positions 4, 5, 12 and 13. Group winners from the preliminary stage will be drawn randomly into positions 3, 6, 11 and 14. The second place finishers of each group shall be drawn randomly into positions 2, 7, 10 and 15 of the draw; group winners and second place finishers from the same group will be drawn into opposite halves of the draw; there will be no separation by association. Losers of the semi-finals play each other for third place. All matches will be played to the best of 7 games. Prize Money Winner: US$ 45,000 Runner-up: US$ 25,000 3rd place: US$ 15,000 4th place: US$ 10,000 Places 5 to 8: US$ 6,000 Places 9 to 16: US$ 3,250 Places 17 to 20: US$ 1,250 Total: US$ 150,000 Past Winners and Locations Year Host City Gold Silver Bronze 1996 Hong Kong DENG Yaping YANG Ying WANG Chen 1997 Shanghai WANG Nan LI Ju LI Chunli 1998 Taipei WANG Nan LI Ju CHEN-TONG Fei-Ming 2000 Phnom Penh LI Ju WANG Nan SUN Jin 2001 Wuhu ZHANG Yining KIM Hyon Hui MIHAELA Steff 2002 Singapore ZHANG Yining LI Nan TIE Yana 2003 Hong Kong WANG Nan NIU Jianfeng ZHANG Yining 2004 Hangzhou ZHANG Yining WANG Nan TIE Yana 2005 Guangzhou ZHANG Yining GUO Yan AI Fukuhara Page 3 of 6
2006 Urumqi GUO Yan ZHANG Yining LI Jiawei 2007 Chengdu WANG Nan ZHANG Yining GUO Yue 2008 Kuala Lumpur LI Xiaoxia TIE Yana FENG Tianwei 2009 Guangzhou LIU Shiwen GUO Yue LI Xiaoxia 2010 Kuala Lumpur GUO Yan JIANG Huajun GUO Yue 2011 Singapore DING Ning LI Xiaoxia TIE Yana 2012 Huangshi LIU Shiwen Elizabeta SAMARA SHEN Yanfei 2013 Kobe LIU Shiwen WU Yang FENG Tianwei Most Successful Women s World Cup Players ZHANG Yining (CHN) 4 (2001, 2002, 2004 & 2005) WANG Nan (CHN) 4 (1997, 1998, 2003, 2007) LIU Shiwen (CHN) 3 (2009, 2012, 2013) GUO Yan (CHN) 2 (2006, 2010) DING Ning (CHN) is the only player in the field that has won a Women s World Cup in the past. Most Women s World Cup Appearances During the 2014 ITTF Women s World Cup, it will be Liu Jia (AUT) 9 th appearance, the most of any player participating. TIE Yana (HKG) 11 LI Jiawei (SIN) 9 LIU Jia (AUT) 9 GAO Jun (USA) 8 KIM Kyungah (KOR) 8 JIANG Huajun (HKG) 8 FUKUHARA Ai (JPN) 7 Players Information Seeding Name Assn WR Hand Grip Play Style DOB 1 DING Ning CHN 1 Left Shakehand Attacking 20-Jun-90 2 LI Xiaoxia CHN 3 Right Shakehand Attacking 16-Jan-88 3 ISHIKAWA Kasumi JPN 9 Left Shakehand Attacking 23-Feb-93 4 SEO Hyowon KOR 10 Right Shakehand Defence 10-May-87 5 LIU Jia AUT 13 Left Shakehand Attacking 16-Feb-82 6 LEE Ho Ching HKG 14 Right Shakehand Attacking 24-Nov-92 7 SAMARA Elizabeta ROU 15 Left Shakehand Attacking 15-Apr-89 8 HIRANO Sayaka JPN 17 Right Shakehand Attacking 24-Mar-85 9 LI Jiao NED 20 Left Penhold Attacking 15-Jan-73 10 POTA Georgina HUN 26 Right Shakehand Attacking 13-Jan-85 Page 4 of 6
11 WU Jiaduo GER 29 Right Shakehand Attacking 19-Jul-77 12 HU Melek TUR 32 Right Shakehand Attacking 27-Jan-89 13 JIANG Huajun HKG Right Shakehand Attacking 08-Oct-84 14 SOLJA Petrissa GER 34 Left Shakehand Attacking 11-Mar-94 15 CHENG I-Ching TPE 37 Right Shakehand Attacking 15-Feb-92 16 VACENOVSKA Iveta CZE 45 Right Shakehand Attacking 22-Mar-86 17 ZHANG Mo CAN 103 Right Shakehand Attacking 17-Jan-89 18 MESHREF Dina EGY 112 Left Shakehand Attacking 10-Mar-94 19 KUMAHARA Caroline BRA 116 Right Shakehand Attacking 27-Jul-95 20 LAY Jian Fang AUS 120 Right Penhold Attacking 6-Mar-73 Players 2014 Win/Loss Record Number one seed Ding Ning hasn t lost a single match this year, maintaining a 100% unbeaten record! Seeding Name Assn WR Win 2014 Loss 2014 Total Percent 1 DING Ning CHN 1 15 0 15 100% 2 LI Xiaoxia CHN 3 8 2 10 80% 3 ISHIKAWA Kasumi JPN 9 19 11 30 63.3% 4 SEO Hyowon KOR 10 14 7 21 66.7% 5 LIU Jia AUT 13 29 6 35 82.9% 6 LEE Ho Ching HKG 14 18 12 30 60.0% 7 SAMARA Elizabeta ROU 15 20 8 28 71.4% 8 HIRANO Sayaka JPN 17 20 17 37 54.1% 9 LI Jiao NED 20 14 7 21 66.7% 10 POTA Georgina HUN 26 21 13 34 61.8% 11 WU Jiaduo GER 29 15 13 28 53.6% 12 HU Melek TUR 32 10 9 19 52.6% 13 JIANG Huajun HKG 2 5 7 28.6% 14 SOLJA Petrissa GER 34 22 12 34 64.7% 15 CHENG I-Ching TPE 37 8 18 26 44.4% 16 VACENOVSKA Iveta CZE 45 19 13 32 57.1% 17 ZHANG Mo CAN 103 11 1 12 91.7% 19 MESHREF Dina EGY 112 24 12 36 66.7% 18 KUMAHARA Caroline BRA 116 12 14 26 40.0% 20 LAY Jian Fang AUS 120 6 4 10 60.0% Players past Best World Cup Results (1996-2013) Name Assn Year Final Placing DING Ning CHN 2011 Winner HIRANO Sayaka JPN 2013 9-12 th place HU Melek TUR 2013 13-16 th place ISHIKAWA Kasumi JPN 2013 5-8 th place JIANG Huajun HKG 2010 Runner-up KUMAHARA Caroline BRA 2012 17 th place LAY Jian Fang AUS 2000 9-12 th place Page 5 of 6
LI Jiao NED 2009 5-8 th place LI Xiaoxia CHN 2008 Winner LIU Jia AUT 2012 5-8 th place MESHREF Dina EGY 2011 19 th place POTA Georgina HUN 2008 13-16 th place SAMARA Elizabeta ROU 2012 Runner-up WU Jiaduo GER 2011 5-8 th place ZHANG Mo CAN 2009 17 th place Tournament Facts It is the first time that the Women s World Cup is held out of Asia. The women s title has only been won by Chinese players The entire tournament will take place on only two tables The first ever Women s World Cup was held in Hong Kong in 1996, which was won by DENG Yaping (CHN) The 2014 Women s World Cup is the 18 th edition. 35% of the players are left handers (7/20) The oldest competitor in Linz will be LI Jiao (NED). She is 41 years old. The youngest is Caroline KUMAHARA (BRA) who is 19, a difference of 22 years! The average age of the women competing is 27 The Women s World Cup and the Men s World Cup have always been held separately, except in 2004 where it was held together in Hangzhou, China Elizabeta SAMARA is the only non-asian player ever to reach the final ITTF.com Make sure you follow the 2014 Women s World Cup on ITTF.com to obtain the following: Head to head comparisons between each player Live results Up to date schedule Live steaming at ITTF.com/itTV Live updates of the action Rights free photos Upcoming ITTF calendar Past results Everything you need to do with international table tennis! Page 6 of 6