Table Tennis World Cup facts for kids

The Table Tennis World Cup is a big international competition for table tennis players. It has been held every year since 1980. At first, only men played in singles matches. Later, women's singles started in 1996, and team competitions began in 1990. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the group that organizes these exciting events.

From 2021 to 2023, the World Cup took a break. A new event called the WTT Cup Finals started in 2021. This event was meant to be the big end-of-season championship for the WTT (World Table Tennis). Even though it was first said that winners would get the ITTF World Cup trophies, they actually received special WTT Cup Finals trophies. The event is now simply called WTT Finals.

But don't worry, the ITTF World Cup is back! In 2023, it returned with a new mixed team format in Chengdu, China. The ITTF Singles World Cup also came back in 2024, held in Macao, China.

How Players Qualify

To play in the ITTF World Cup, table tennis players need to be really good! Here's how they get to join:

Singles World Cup

For the singles events (where players compete by themselves), here's how players qualify:

• The current World Champion gets a spot.
• The U19 World Champion (the best player under 19) also qualifies.
• The top players from big tournaments on each of the five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, Americas, and Oceania) get to play.
• Many other players are chosen based on their World Ranking (how well they are doing globally).
• Usually, no more than four players from the same country can compete. However, if a country has the World Champion or U19 World Champion, they might have up to six players.

Team World Cup

For the team events, countries qualify based on how well their teams did in the previous World Team Championships.

• The top 7 teams from the last World Team Championships get invited.
• If the host country's team isn't in the top 7, they get a spot, along with four other teams from different continents.

Mixed Team World Cup

The Mixed Team World Cup is a newer event where teams have both male and female players.

• Teams usually have three or four players of each gender.
• Up to 10 teams can qualify by winning either the men's or women's continental team championships.
• The host country's team also gets a spot if they haven't already qualified.
• Other teams are chosen based on their rankings.

How the Games Are Played

The way matches are played can change, but here's how the 2024 World Cup worked:

Singles World Cup Matches

The 2024 Singles World Cup had two main parts:

Group Stage

• All 48 players are put into 16 groups, with three players in each group.
• Everyone in a group plays against each other.
• Only the winner of each group moves on to the next stage.
• Matches in this stage are played for 4 games (for example, 4-0, 3-1, or 2-2). The winner is decided by how many games and points they win.

Knockout Stage

• This is where it gets really exciting! The 16 group winners play in a knockout style, meaning if you lose, you're out.
• The top-ranked players from the group stage get special spots in the draw.
• Matches in this stage are "best of 7 games," meaning the first player to win 4 games wins the match.

Mixed Team World Cup Matches

The Mixed Team World Cup also has two stages:

• Stage 1: Teams are divided into groups. They all play each other within their group.
• Stage 2: The top teams from Stage 1 move into a single group. They play against each other, but if they already played in Stage 1, that result counts, and they don't play again.

Past Playing Systems

The rules for how the World Cup is played have changed over the years. For example, the 2009 Men's and Women's World Cups had three stages:

Preliminary Stage

• Four players from different continents played against each other. The winner joined the main competition.

Group Stage

• The 16 players were divided into 4 groups.
• Players in each group played against each other.
• The top two players from each group moved on.

Knockout Stage

• This was a single-elimination tournament, starting with quarter-finals.
• Winners moved to semi-finals, and then to the final match. There was also a match for third place.

World Cup Winners

Many amazing players and teams have won the ITTF World Cup over the years. China has been especially strong, winning many gold medals in both singles and team events.

Men's Singles Winners

Year	Host city	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1980	Hong Kong	Guo Yuehua	Li Zhenshi	Josef Dvoracek
1981	Kuala Lumpur	Tibor Klampár	Xie Saike	Guo Yuehua
1982	Hong Kong	Guo Yuehua	Mikael Appelgren	Xie Saike
1983	Barbados	Mikael Appelgren	Jan-Ove Waldner	Erik Lindh
1984	Kuala Lumpur	Jiang Jialiang	Kim Wan	Ulf Bengtsson
2024	Macao	Ma Long	Lin Gaoyuan	Tomokazu Harimoto
				Wang Chuqin
2025	Macao	Hugo Calderano	Lin Shidong	Liang Jingkun
				Wang Chuqin

China has won the most Men's Singles titles. Famous Chinese players like Ma Lin, Ma Long, and Fan Zhendong have won multiple times.

Women's Singles Winners

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
2024	Macau	Sun Yingsha	Wang Manyu	Chen Meng
				Miwa Harimoto
2025	Macau	Sun Yingsha	Kuai Man	Chen Xingtong
				Mima Ito

Chinese players have also dominated the Women's Singles, with stars like Zhang Yining, Wang Nan, and Liu Shiwen winning many titles.

Team World Cup Winners

The Team World Cup features countries competing against each other.

• Men's Team: China has won the Men's Team World Cup many times, showing their strength in table tennis. South Korea and Sweden have also won titles.
• Women's Team: China has won almost all the Women's Team World Cup titles. Russia is another country that has won this event.

Mixed Team Winners

The Mixed Team World Cup is a new and exciting event.

Year	Host City	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2023	Chengdu	China Chen Meng Fan Zhendong Lin Gaoyuan Ma Long Sun Yingsha Wang Chuqin Wang Manyu Wang Yidi	South Korea An Jae-hyun Jang Woo-jin Jeon Ji-hee Kim Na-yeong Lee Sang-su Lee Zi-on Lim Jong-hoon Shin Yu-bin	Japan Miwa Harimoto Tomokazu Harimoto Hina Hayata Miu Hirano Miyuu Kihara Kakeru Sone Shunsuke Togami Ryoichi Yoshiyama
2024	Chengdu	China Kuai Man Liang Jingkun Lin Gaoyuan Lin Shidong Sun Yingsha Wang Chuqin Wang Manyu Wang Yidi	South Korea An Jae-hyun Cho Dae-seong Jang Woo-jin Jeon Ji-hee Kim Na-yeong Oh Jun-sung Shin Yu-bin Suh Hyo-won	Hong Kong Chan Baldwin Doo Hoi Kem Lam Siu-hang Lee Hoi Man Karen Ng Wing Lam Wong Chun-ting Wong Hoi Tung Yiu Kwan To

China has won the first two Mixed Team World Cups.

See also

In Spanish: Copa del Mundo de Tenis de Mesa para niños