Originally scheduled to take place in October, the ITTF Men’s World Cup will now be one of the final events of what is shaping up to be an epic end to 2019.

As requested by the local organising committee, the new dates of 29 November until 1 December mean that the ITTF Men’s World Cup will now be the last of this year’s three World Cup competitions:

• ITTF Women’s World Cup: 18-20 October 2019 (Chengdu, China)
• ITTF Team World Cup: 6-10 November 2019 (Tokyo, Japan)
• ITTF Men’s World Cup: 29 November – 1 December 2019 (Chengdu, China)

The ITTF World Cups represent the second most prestigious events on the international table tennis calendar, after the ITTF World Championships, and they count towards the Grand Slam (Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cups).

This will be the 40^th edition of the ITTF Men’s World Cup, which has been held every year since its inauguration in 1980 in Hong Kong.

The 2019 ITTF Men’s World Cup, as with the Women’s World Cup, will feature 20 of the globe’s top table tennis players, 18 of which will have qualified through their respective Continental Cups, together with the ITTF World Champion and a wildcard.

Here are the players who have qualified so far for the 2019 ITTF World Cups:

• Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships: MA Long (CHN);  LIU Shiwen (CHN).
• China Construction Bank 2019 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR), Timo BOLL (GER); Petrissa SOLJA (GER), Bernadette SZOCS (ROU), Sofia POLCANOVA (AUT).
• Universal 2019 ITTF Pan American Cup: Hugo CALDERANO (BRA), Kanak JHA (USA); Adriana DIAZ (PUR), ZHANG Mo (CAN).
• Lion 2019 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup: FAN Zhendong (CHN), Koki NIWA (JPN), Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN); ZHU Yuling (CHN), Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN), FENG Tianwei (SGP).
• 2019 ITTF Oceania Cup: Heming HU (AUS); Jian Fang LAY (AUS).

Further names will book their places at the 2019 ITTF World Cups via the ITTF Africa Cup (3-5 August in Lagos, Nigeria) and the full list of qualified players for the Women’s and Men’s World Cups will be announced by the end of August 2019.

Click here for the full 2019 event schedule.

Click here for more information on the World Cups.