DUBAI // Reigning men’s World and Olympic champion Zhang Jike will be looking to add the only major table tennis silverware missing from his collection when the Chinese player takes on the world’s best at the World Tour Grand Finals at Al Nasr Club.
The four-day tournament starts tomorrow with Jike, the 2011 and 2013 World Championships winner and world No 3, taking on Taku Takakiwa of Japan in the opening round of the tournament.
Ma Long, the men’s world No 1 and top seed, will take on Kazuhiro Chan of Japan in the opening round, while the 2012 World Tour Grand Finals winner and world No 2 Xu Xin will start his defence against Chih-Yuan Chuang of Chinese Taipei.
“The level of the Grand Finals is just like the Olympics and the World Championships,” said Jike, 25, who will be playing a tournament in Dubai for the third time. “All the top-ranked players from the pro tour are here, so winning this tournament is as difficult as the Olympic Games. But I will try my best and I hope I will win this title before I retire.”
The World Tour Grand Finals is the richest event in table tennis and is being held outside China for the first time. The US$1 million (Dh3.673m) event will feature 82 of the best players from 18 different countries, all battling for the six gold medals on offer: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, men’s Under 21 singles and women’s U21 singles.
The 16-member women’s field is headed by the reigning two-time World Tour Grand Finals champion and world No 1 Liu Shiwen, who will meet Romania’s Elizabeta Samara in the first round.
“What can I say?” Samara said after the draw. “She is the No 1 in the world, so all I can say is I will try my best. It’s a tough draw, definitely. I would have preferred the Europeans, but I will do my best and try to enjoy myself. That’s it.
“It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose, I am here to enjoy myself.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the world No 6, who will be making his seventh appearance on the men’s side of the Grand Finals, but is yet to win a match in the tournament.
“It can only get better,” said Ovtcharov, 25, who meets South Korean world No 27 Kim Minseok. “So I don’t feel any pressure. I have been practising well and feeling good, and hopefully I can put up a good show against one of the Chinese and maybe even beat one of them.”
The Grand Finals brings together 16 of the best male and female performers from the World Tour, with the qualifiers for this year’s event making it to the finale based on the points they earned through the 19 World Tour events in 2013.
Eight of the top performers from the men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and the men’s and women’s U21 events on the World Tour have also qualified for the four-day tournament in Dubai, while two participants from the home country – Majd Al Balooshi and Abdullah Al Mohaiseni – complete the line-up.
Al Balooshi will take on the 16th-seeded Maria Bykova for a place in the women’s main draw of 16, while 14-year-old Al Mohaiseni will meet Singapore’s world No 20 Gao Ning in the men’s single play-off.
arizvi@thenational.ae