Table tennis giants Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin, the top two seeds, will lead a star cast at the 25th edition of the Qatar Open this week, organisers announced yesterday.
China’s Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan will also be part of the men’s field at the March 5-8 event that offers a staggering $400,000 in prize money in five categories.
The women’s line-up is headed by Chen Meng, no.1 seed, Sun Yingsha, Mima Ito and Wang Manyu.
Khaleel Al Muhannadi, First Vice-President of the Asian and International Table Tennis Federations (ITTF), said around 300 players representing China, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, France, Italy, Austria, Portugal and Brazil will feature at the 2020 ITTF World Tour Platinum, Qatar Open.
Al Mohannadi, who is the President of the Qatar and Arab Federations and the Chairman of the Local Organising Committe (LOC), said the event will be held at Aspire Academy starting with two days of qualifying on March 3 and 4.
The Qatari official said the championship prize money has been increased from $300,000 to $400,000 and that the Mixed Doubles segment of the Qatar Open tournament is an official qualifying competition for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The winner of the men’s and women’s singles competitions will take home $44,000 each while the beaten finalist in each class gets richer by $22,000.
“We wish everyone on this occasion in which we celebrate the silver jubilee of the Qatar Open. The number of countries participating in 2020 Qatar Open is 53. The players have arrived and we are set to stage six days of non-stop table tennis matches,” Al Mohannadi added.
Al Muhannadi said Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) is ready to host a series of meetings with ITTF officials and top representatives of regional federations.
“We are expecting a group of around 80 officials present in Qatar, including the ITTF President Thomas Weikert and 44 officials of the Executive Committee of the world body,” Al Mohannadi said.
Regarding the final arrangements for the hugely popular tournament, Al Mohannadi said: “We, as the LOC, have finished all preparations and arrangements to host the event. We are expecting another great edition of the Qatar Open.”
Al Mohannadi said that the tournament will be managed by Qatari referees along side with ITTF-accredited officials.
Al Mohannadi informed that a few countries had pulled out of the main draw citing coronavirus concerns.
“We, as the Local Organising Committee, are following up with Qatar’s Ministry of Health and other top officials first-hand on the matter. We were fortunate that the first Chinese squad including the world’s top seed were in Qatar for a month ago to set up their preparatory camp,” Al Mohannadi said.
When asked about the participation of Qatar players, Thani Al Zarraa, the Director of the National Teams, confirmed that a large group of players - in various categories - will lead the home charge.
“Our players are ready to participate in the tournament and we hope that they will represent Qatar in the best manner possible,” Thani Al Zarraa said.
Ali Sultan Al Muftah, the Tournament Director, was also present at the press conference.
“Every year, the championship committees play their full role to ensure the success of this important sporting event,” Al Muftah said.
“The most prominent committees handle matters relating to transportation, ceremonies, stadium committees, the security and health committee in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, and also the formation of a committee for initial picks-ups from the airport of the players participating in the championship,” Al Muftah added.
SOURCE: THEPENINSULA