Table Tennis World Cup

Participants of the competition are composed of:[2]

• The current holder of the World Cup.
• The World Champion.
• The champion player or the strongest current player from each of the 6 continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania).
• 1 player from the host association.
• The top 8 players from the world ranking list.
• 2 wild card selections.
  • No more than 2 players from an association unless a third is invited as a wild card.
  • If the World Champion and the World Cup title holder is the same player, or the host association has a player qualified as title holder or from the world ranking, the vacancy goes to the next highest eligible player on the world ranking list.

• Top 7 associations at the preceding World Team Championships.
• If the team of the host association is not on the top 7 list, the team of the host association and 4 teams from continental federations would be represented at the event.

The playing system is determined by the Executive Committee on recommendation by the Competition Department.[2] The 2009 World Cup was divided into 3 stages. All matches were the best of 7 games.[3]

1. The Preliminary Stage- Intercontinental Cup: The 4 continental representatives from Africa, Latin America, North America and Oceania compete on a group basis with all the members of the group. The winner of this group joins the remaining 15 players in the 1st stage.
2. The 1st Stage- Group Stage: The 16 players are divided into 4 equal groups, with all the members of a group playing each other, and the group winners and runners-up advance towards the 2nd stage.
   1. The highest-ranked player is placed in Group A, the 2nd highest in Group B, the 3rd highest in Group C and the 4th highest in Group D. The remaining players are drawn into the 4 groups at a time in ranking order.
   2. If there are 2 players from the same association, they will be drawn into separate groups but the 3rd player from the same association may be drawn into any group.
3. The 2nd Stage- Knockout:
   1. Quarter Finals: 4 quarter finals (Q1-Q4) are arranged according to both the groups and the rankings in the 1st Stage. Q1-Q4 are as follows: A1 vs. B2, C1 vs. D2, D1 vs. C2, and B1 vs. A2.
   2. Semi-finals: the matches are winner of Q1 vs. winner of Q2, and winner of Q3 vs. winner of Q4.
   3. Winners of semi-finals enter the final, with the losers of the semi-finals competing for the third place.

All team matches are played on the Olympic System with a maximum of 4 singles and 1 doubles. And all individual matches of a team match are the best of 5 games.[2][4]

1. Intercontinental Cup: The 4 teams from continental federations not qualified by their ranking at the preceding World Team Championships shall compete in an Intercontinental Cup played on round-robin. Only one team survives.
2. Knockout: 7 teams qualified from World Team Championships and the host are seeded based on latest ITTF World Team Ranking. The winner of the Intercontinental Cup play a match against the lowest seeded of the other 8 teams, other than the host association's team. The winner of this match shall promote to final knockout. The top 4 seeds are separated in different matches in quarter-finals.