BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) — Chinese paddlers Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng are aiming to defend their titles on the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash to be held in March.
The 2023 WTT Singapore Smash will even function outstanding names together with ladies’s world No. 1 Sun Yingsha of China, world No. 5 and No. 6 Hina Hayata and Mima Ito of Japan, Germany’s Han Ying, Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico and Austria’s Sofia Polconova.
“I’m looking forward to competing again at Singapore Smash 2023. It is always an honor to be returning as the defending champion,” Chen stated in an interview with the WTT web site.
“There’s a very strong field of players and I’m expecting the competition to be tough, but this is what we train for and it’s a good chance for us to put this training into practice,” added the reigning Olympic ladies’s singles champion.
In his title protection, Fan is anticipated to face a stern problem from his compatriots, world No. 2 Ma Long and third-ranked Wang Chuqin, in addition to Japanese prodigy Tomokazu Harimoto and Brazilian ace Hugo Calderano, who gained back-to-back WTT Contender titles final month. The sixth-ranked Truls Moregard of Sweden, German legend Timo Boll and Liam Pitchford of England are different paddlers to look out for in Singapore.
The 2023 Singapore Smash will function 64 gamers within the males’s and ladies’s singles, and 24 pairs every within the males’s, ladies’s and combined doubles, with a singles qualifying competitors to function an additional 64 male and 64 feminine paddlers.