The second edition of the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup is slated to begin on December 1, 2024, in Chengdu, China, and will feature 16 nations that will be fighting for the prestigious Guoliang-Sörling Trophy.
Following the resounding success of the inaugural edition last year, Chengdu will once again provide the stage for this thrilling event, which promises to captivate players and fans alike with its unique format and celebration of gender equality and teamwork.
Of the 16 nations participating, India will also be in action as the seventh seed in the competition, with China (the defending champion), Japan, and South Korea being the top three seeds. The other teams who are also participating are Chinese Taipei, Sweden, Japan, Egypt, Germany, Australia, and Hong Kong. China, Romania, Singapore, USA, Poland, and Canada.
India will be having a tough task ahead as it has announced an 8 -member second-string team, in the absence of notable stars Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Achanta Sharath Kamal, and Harmeet Desai. The Team comprises of
- Manav Thakkar,
- Manush Shah,
- Poyamantee Baisya,
- Snehit Suravajjula,
- Yashaswini Ghorpade,
- Pritha Vartikar,
- Sayali Wani, and
- Jeet Chandra
PLAYING SYSTEM at the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup 2024
- There will be a total of 52 matches (24 in Stage 1 + 24 in Stage 2 + 4 in Stage 3)
- In Stage 1 the teams will be divided into 4 equal groups, with all the members of a group playing each other (round robin).
- For Stage 1, the highest-ranked team will be placed in Group 1, the 2nd highest in Group 2, the 3rd highest in Group 3 and the 4th highest in Group 4; the remaining teams will be drawn into the groups 2 at a time in seeding order (modified snake system).
- In Stage 2, the group winners and runners-up from Stage 1 will compete in a single group with all the members of a group playing each other (round robin), with the exception that teams having played each other in Stage 1 will not play again, but the results from Stage 1 will carry forward to Stage 2
- In Stage 3, the top 4 teams from Stage 2 will compete in a knockout system, starting from the semi-finals. They will then play the final and the match for 3rd and 4th positions. The matchups will be 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd in semi-finals.
This ITTF Mixed Team World Cup will be a great opportunity for the young rising Indian stars to gain valuable experience and also for India to improve their performance from last year, where they ended last in their group with only one win, and try to enter the second stage this year.
