2016 ITTF World Tour explained

Duration:	20 January 2016 – 11 December 2016
Edition:	21st
Tournaments:	20 + Grand Finals
Categories:	Super Series (6) Major Series (6) Challenge Series (8) Grand Finals (1)
Most Tournament Titles:	Men: Ma Long (3, inc. Grand Finals) Jun Mizutani (3) Women: Ding Ning (2) Liu Shiwen (2)
Points Leader:	Men: Ma Long (2,100) Women: Ding Ning (1,900)
Player Of The Year:	Men: Ma Long Women: Ding Ning
Previous:	2015
Next:	2017

The 2016 ITTF World Tour was the 21st season of the International Table Tennis Federation's professional table tennis world tour. 2016 also marked the tour's 20th anniversary.^[1]

The events of the 2016 tour were split into three tiers: Super Series, Major Series and Challenge Series. The Super Series events offered the highest prize money and the most points towards the ITTF World Tour standings, which determined the qualifiers for the 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in December. The Major Series was the middle tier, with the Challenge Series being the lowest tier.^{[2] [3]}

Schedule

Below is the schedule released by the ITTF:^[4]

Tour	Event	Location	Venue	Date		Prize money USD	Ref.
				Start	Finish
1	Hungarian Open	Budapest	Tüskecsarnok	January 20	January 24	70,000	^[5]
2	German Open	Berlin	Max-Schmeling-Halle	January 27	January 31	120,000	^[6]
3	Kuwait Open	Kuwait City	Salwa Sports Club	March 16	March 20	300,000	^[7]
4	Qatar Open	Doha	Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena	March 23	March 27	220,000	^[8]
5	Chile Open	Santiago	Centro de Entrenamiento Olímpico	April 5	April 9	35,000	^[9]
6	Polish Open	Warsaw	Torwar Hall	April 20	April 24	70,000	^[10]
7	Nigeria Open	Lagos	Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas Sports Hall	May 18	May 22	46,000	^[11]
8	Croatia Open	Zagreb	Dom Sportova	May 24	May 28	35,000	^[12]
9	Slovenia Open	Otočec	Športni Center Otočec	June 1	June 5	35,000	^[13]
10	Australian Open	Melbourne	Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre	June 8	June 12	35,000	^[14]
11	Japan Open	Tokyo	Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium	June 15	June 19	120,000	^[15]
12	Korea Open	Incheon	Namdong Gymnasium	June 22	June 26	120,000	^[16]
13	DPR Korea Open	Pyongyang	Chongchun Street Sports Village	June 29	July 3	35,000	^[17]
14	Bulgaria Open	Panagyurishte	Arena Asarel	August 24	August 28	80,000	^[18]
15	Czech Open	Olomouc	Sportovní hala University Palackého	August 31	September 4	70,000	^[19]
16	Belarus Open	Minsk	Palace of Tennis	September 7	September 11	35,000	^[20]
17	China Open	Chengdu	Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium	September 14	September 18	220,000	^[21]
18	Belgium Open	De Haan	Sport- en recreatiecentrum Haneveld	September 20	September 24	35,000	^[22]
19	Austrian Open	Linz	TipsArena Linz	November 9	November 13	70,000	^[23]
20	Swedish Open	Stockholm	Eriksdalshallen	November 15	November 20	70,000	^[24]
21	Grand Finals	Doha	Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena	December 8	December 11	500,000	^[25]

Events

Super Series

Winners

Event	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	U21 Men's singles	U21 Women's singles
German Open	Ma Long	Wu Yang	Masataka Morizono Yuya Oshima	Jeon Ji-hee Yang Ha-eun	Yuto Muramatsu	Yui Hamamoto
Kuwait Open	Zhang Jike	Li Xiaoxia	Xu Xin Zhang Jike	Ding Ning Liu Shiwen	Hugo Calderano	Hina Hayata
Qatar Open	Ma Long	Liu Shiwen	Fan Zhendong Zhang Jike	Ding Ning Liu Shiwen	Ho Kwan Kit	Zeng Jian
Japan Open	Fan Zhendong	Liu Shiwen	Ma Long Xu Xin	Ding Ning Li Xiaoxia	Tomokazu Harimoto	Zeng Jian
Korea Open	Xu Xin	Ding Ning	Xu Xin Zhang Jike	Ding Ning Liu Shiwen	Lim Jong-hoon	Yui Hamamoto
China Open	Fan Zhendong	Ding Ning	Ma Long Zhang Jike	Chen Meng Zhu Yuling	Ho Kwan Kit	Zeng Jian

Finals

German Open

Category	Winners	Runners-up	Score
Men's singles	Ma Long	Vladimir Samsonov	4–1 (11–7, 11–6, 11–4, 10–12, 11–5)
Women's singles	Wu Yang	Kasumi Ishikawa	4–1 (11–5, 11–7, 9–11, 11–8, 11–7)
Men's doubles	Masataka Morizono / Yuya Oshima	Ho Kwan Kit / Tang Peng	3–1 (11–8, 8–11, 11–6, 11–2)
Women's doubles	Jeon Ji-hee / Yang Ha-eun	Han Ying / Irene Ivancan	3–1 (11–3, 8–11, 11–7, 11–7)

Kuwait Open

Category	Winners	Runners-up	Score
Men's singles	Zhang Jike	Ma Long	4–1 (11–9, 11–9, 5–11, 12–10, 11–9)
Women's singles	Li Xiaoxia	Ding Ning	4–1 (11–6, 2–11, 11–9, 11–9, 11–8)
Men's doubles	Xu Xin / Zhang Jike	Ho Kwan Kit / Tang Peng	3–1 (6–11, 11–9, 11–8, 11–5)
Women's doubles	Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen	Li Xiaoxia / Zhu Yuling	3–0 (11–4, 11–6, 11–5)

Qatar Open

Category	Winners	Runners-up	Score
Men's singles	Ma Long	Fan Zhendong	4–1 (11–9, 11–9, 5–11, 13–11, 11–5)
Women's singles	Liu Shiwen	Ding Ning	4–1 (11–8, 9–11, 11–8, 11–9, 11–9)
Men's doubles	Fan Zhendong / Zhang Jike	Koki Niwa / Maharu Yoshimura	3–0 (11–8, 11–9, 11–7)
Women's doubles	Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen	Ai Fukuhara / Mima Ito	3–2 (6–11, 11–9, 11–6, 4–11, 11–7)

Japan Open

Category	Winners	Runners-up	Score
Men's singles	Fan Zhendong		4–1 (11–9, 11–5, 9–11, 11–7, 11–8)
Women's singles	Liu Shiwen		4–2 (17–19, 11–7, 11–6, 8–11, 12–10, 11–7)
Men's doubles	Ma Long / Xu Xin	Chuang Chih-yuan / Huang Sheng-sheng	3–0 (11–4, 11–7, 11–4)
Women's doubles	Ding Ning / Li Xiaoxia	Liu Shiwen / Zhu Yuling	3–0 (11–7, 11–7, 11–9)

Korea Open

Category	Winners	Runners-up	Score
Men's singles	Xu Xin	Ma Long	4–3 (11–7, 12–10, 4–11, 12–10, 7–11, 6–11, 11–9)
Women's singles	Ding Ning	Liu Shiwen	4–1 (11–9, 11–13, 11–8, 11–6, 11–6)
Men's doubles	Xu Xin / Zhang Jike	Jung Young-sik / Lee Sang-su	3–0 (12–10, 12–10, 11–8)
Women's doubles	Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen	Jeon Ji-hee / Yang Ha-eun	3–0 (11–9, 11–7, 11–4)

China Open

Category	Winners	Runners-up	Score
Men's singles	Fan Zhendong	Ma Long	4–0 (11–9, 13–11, 11–8, 11–5)
Women's singles	Ding Ning	Liu Shiwen	4–2 (11–6, 8–11, 11–4, 10–12, 12–10, 11–8)
Men's doubles	Ma Long / Zhang Jike	Fan Zhendong / Xu Xin	3–2 (11–8, 5–11, 4–11, 11–9, 11–5)
Women's doubles	Chen Meng / Zhu Yuling	Ding Ning / Liu Shiwen	3–1 (4–11, 11–3, 11–9, 11–5)

Major Series

Winners

Event	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	U21 Men's singles	U21 Women's singles
Hungarian Open	Chuang Chih-yuan	Tie Ya Na	Chuang Chih-yuan Huang Sheng-sheng	Jeon Ji-hee Yang Ha-eun	Lim Jong-hoon	Miyu Kato
Polish Open	Jun Mizutani	Miu Hirano	Masataka Morizono Yuya Oshima	Jeon Ji-hee Yang Ha-eun	Wang Zhixu	Miyu Kato
Bulgaria Open	Tomáš Konečný	Yuka Ishigaki	Alexey Liventsov Mikhail Paikov	Miyu Kato Misaki Morizono	Liao Cheng-ting	Saki Shibata
Czech Open	Yuto Muramatsu	Yang Xiaoxin	Cho Eon-rae Park Jeong-woo	Matilda Ekholm Georgina Póta	Yuto Muramatsu	Yoon Hyo-bin
Austrian Open	Kenta Matsudaira	Mima Ito	Patrick Franziska Jonathan Groth	Honoka Hashimoto Hitomi Sato	Park Gang-hyeon	Sakura Mori
Swedish Open	Yuya Oshima	Kasumi Ishikawa	Hugo Calderano Gustavo Tsuboi	Cheng I-ching Lee I-chen	Kenta Tazoe	Choi Hyo-joo

Challenge Series

Winners

Event	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	U21 Men's singles	U21 Women's singles
Chile Open	Antoine Hachard	Rachel Moret	Antoine Hachard Romain Ruiz	Maria Lorenzotti Candela Molero	Florian Schreiner	Idalys Lovet
Nigeria Open	Benedek Oláh	Shao Jieni	Andrey Bukin Vasilij Filatov	Irina Ermakova Olga Kulikova	Shady Magdy	Irina Ciobanu
Croatia Open	Joo Sae-hyuk	Hitomi Sato	Patrick Franziska Jonathan Groth	Doo Hoi Kem Lee Ho Ching	Tomislav Pucar	Mima Ito
Slovenia Open	Jun Mizutani	Feng Tianwei	Ho Kwan Kit Wong Chun Ting	Maria Dolgikh Polina Mikhailova	João Geraldo	Hitomi Sato
Australian Open	Jun Mizutani	Hina Hayata	Takuya Jin Yuki Morita	Honoka Hashimoto Hitomi Sato	Mizuki Oikawa	Miyu Kato
DPR Korea Open	Kang Wi-hun	Kim Song-i	Cao Wei Xu Yingbin	Kim Song-i Ri Myong-sun	Ro Hyon-song	Kim Nam-hae
Belarus Open	Jang Woo-jin	Saki Shibata	Jang Woo-jin Lim Jong-hoon	Honoka Hashimoto Hitomi Sato	Cho Seung-min	Jung Yu-mi
Belgium Open	Sathiyan Gnanasekaran	Georgina Póta	Alexey Liventsov Mikhail Paikov	Georgina Póta Yulia Prokhorova	Liao Cheng-ting	Kyoka Kato

Standings

Singles

The 15 men and 16 women who played in at least five events and accumulated the largest number of points during the 2016 ITTF World Tour were invited to play in the Grand Finals in December. Qatar's Li Ping was also invited to take part in the men's singles event, to ensure that the host nation was represented.^{[2] [26] [27]}

Men's singles – final standings^[28]

Rank	after all 20 events	Events	Points
1		6	2,100
2		5	1,700
3		5	1,300
4		6	1,225
5		7	713
6		8	700
7		5	700
8		8	619
9		5	550
10		8	401
11		6	363
12		10	337
13		4	300
14		8	288
15		8	281
16		5	275
17		9	254
18		6	250
19		9	234
20		7	231
21		8	222
22		7	206
23		8	200
24		11	200
25		4	200
34		5	134

Women's singles – final standings^[28]

Rank	after all 20 events	Events	Points
1		5	1,900
2		5	1,700
3		9	881
4		5	800
5		9	612
6		2	600
7		3	600
8		6	550
9		8	538
10		11	525
11		10	459
12		13	451
13		7	450
14		7	400
15		11	362
16		8	362
17		10	360
18		11	353
19		9	338
20		15	326
21		11	310
22		9	307
23		13	306
24		4	288
25		7	225

Doubles

The eight men's pairs and eight women's pairs who played in at least four events and accumulated the largest number of points, as a pair, during the 2016 ITTF World Tour were invited to play in the Grand Finals in December.^{[2] [26] [27]}

Men's doubles – final standings^[28]

Rank	after all 20 events	Events	Points
1		6	632
2		2	600
3		8	526
4		6	488
5		4	426
6		4	400
7		4	376
8		2	375
9		5	332
10		4	326
11		2	319
12		1	300
13		8	233
14		7	221
15		4	219
16		2	206
17		4	188
18		5	163
19		1	150
20		2	150

Women's doubles – final standings^[28]

Rank	after all 20 events	Events	Points
1		9	1082
2		4	1050
3		11	589
4		7	451
5		1	300
6		1	300
7		3	263
8		6	251
9		5	226
10		2	225
11		2	225
12		7	208
13		1	200
14		2	175
15		2	175
16		5	158
17		1	150
18		1	150
19		4	145
20		2	138
23		6	120

Grand Finals

See main article: 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. The 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals took place from 8–11 December at the Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena in Doha, Qatar.^[25]

ITTF Star Awards

The 2016 ITTF Star Awards ceremony was held on the first evening of the Grand Finals at the Sheraton Grand Doha on 8 December.^[29]

Awards were handed out in eight categories:

• Male Table Tennis Star: Ma Long
• Female Table Tennis Star: Ding Ning
• Male Para Table Tennis Star: Laurens Devos
• Female Para Table Tennis Star: Liu Jing
• Table Tennis Star Coach: Liu Guoliang
• Table Tennis Breakthrough Star: Miu Hirano
• Table Tennis Star Point: Fan Zhendong at the 2016 Japan Open
• Fair Play Star: Rinad Fathy

See also

• 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships
• Table tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics

External links

• International Table Tennis Federation

Notes and References

1. Web site: ITTF World Tour Celebrates 20th Birthday. ETTU. 11 December 2016.
2. Web site: Points allocation for ITTF World Tour standings 2016. ITTF. 11 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161221022838/http://www.old.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf1.asp?category=points_allocations. 21 December 2016. dead.
3. Web site: ITTF World Tour 2016 prize money distribution. ITTF. 11 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161221022835/http://www.old.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf1.asp?category=prize_money. 21 December 2016. dead.
4. Web site: 2016 ITTF Calendar. ITTF. 11 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20170124142143/http://www.old.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf2.asp?category=pt_calendar. 24 January 2017. dead.
5. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open (Major). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
6. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour German Open (Super). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
7. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Kuwait Open (Super). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
8. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Qatar Open (Super). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
9. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Chile Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
10. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open (Major). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
11. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Premier Lotto Nigeria Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
12. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Zagreb (Croatia) Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
13. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Slovenia Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
14. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Australian Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
15. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Laox Japan Open (Super). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
16. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Korea Open (Super). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
17. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Pyongyang Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
18. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour - Asarel Bulgaria Open (Major). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
19. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Czech Open (Major). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
20. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Belarus Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
21. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour SheSays China Open (Super). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
22. Web site: 2016 ITTF World Tour Belgium Open (Challenge). ITTF. 11 December 2016.
23. Web site: ITTF World Tour Major Series 2016 Hybiome Austrian Open. ITTF. 11 December 2016.
24. Web site: ITTF World Tour Major Series 2016 ITTF Swedish Open. ITTF. 11 December 2016.
25. Web site: Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. ITTF. 11 December 2016.
26. Web site: ITTF World Tour Grand Finals qualification criteria. ITTF. 11 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220192648/http://www.old.ittf.com/WorldTours/2016/Documents/2016_WTGF_qual_criteria.pdf. 20 December 2016. dead.
27. Web site: Invitations confirmed, Olympic and World champions head Doha list. ITTF. 25 November 2016.
28. Web site: 2016 World (Pro) Tour Standings >> points updated after ITTF World Tour Swedish Open. ITTF. 11 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161221022836/http://www.old.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf1.asp?category=standings. 21 December 2016. dead.
29. Web site: Olympic Champions Ding Ning and Ma Long named 2016 ITTF Table Tennis Stars. ITTF. 11 December 2016.