Less Than 50 Days to Go Until Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men's World Cup

The second most prestigious table tennis event on earth, the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men's World Cup is less than 50 days away!

The Liebherr 2015 Men's World Cup will take place from 16-18 October in Halmstad, Sweden, the same city that will host the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships.

Only 20 of the world's best table tennis players are invited to play in Halmstad. 17 of them have qualified through their respective Continental Cups, plus the current World Champion, a host country player, and a wildcard.

Current world champion and world number one MA Long heads the entry list at the 36th Men's World Cup. The 26 year old will be determined to win his second World Cup crown, after coming so close last year in the most dramatic final in recent history against the 2014 champion ZHANG Jike.

The 2013 champion and world number two XU Xin, and the 2015 European Games champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, will be the other two big names in a star studded field at the Halmstad Arena.

The full list of 20 players that have qualified for one of the biggest shows in table tennis are (pending confirmation):

MA Long (CHN) - World Champion

ASSAR Omar (EGY) - African Cup Winner

XU Xin (CHN) - Asian Cup Winner

TSUBOI Gustavo (BRA) - Latin American Cup Winner

BUTLER Jimmy (USA) - North American Cup Winner

HENZELL William (AUS) - Oceania Cup Winner

OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER) - Europe Cup Winner

MIZUTANI Jun (JPN) - Asian Cup 3rd place

FREITAS Marcos (POR) - Europe Cup 2nd place

GIONIS Panagiotis (GRE) - Europe Cup 3rd place

TANG Peng (HKG) - Asian Cup 4th place

KIM Minseok (KOR) - Asian Cup 5th place

GAUZY Simon (FRA) - Europe Cup 4th place

APOLONIA Tiago (POR) - Europe Cup 5th place

GARDOS Robert (AUT) - Europe Cup 6th place

ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND) - Asian Cup 6th place

NIWA Koki (JPN) - Asian Cup 7th place

GAO Ning (SIN) - Asian Cup 8th place

KARLSSON Kristian (SWE) - Host player

KALLBERG Anton (SWE) - Wild card

For more information,contact:

ITTF's Promotion Manager

Matt Pound

mpound@ittfmail.com.

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