China’s Fan hopes to blow his rivals away

Players in action during the qualifying round of the Qatar Open Table Tennis Tournament at Aspire Zone yesterday.By Sahan Bidappa/Doha           After two days of qualifying action, the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open will begin today with the world’s best players battling for a portion of the whopping $500,000 in prize money announced by the Qatar Table Tennis Association.The first two days of the event was largely a chance for the hopefuls to book their place in the money-making rounds, with the organisers, for the first time in its history offering cash to all the 64 competitors, as compared to previous years, where only 32 were eligible. Leading the list in the men’s section are the Chinese, with the nation having dominated the sport for a long time. Defending champion Ma Long and Xu Xin, the new world No. 1, who won both the 2011 and 2012 titles, are the marquee players in the singles. But the spotlight will be on teenage prodigy Fan Zhendong, who is coming off having won the Kuwait Open a week back. The 17-year-old, seeded third behind his Chinese compatriots, rose to prominence last year by becoming the youngest-ever winner of an ITTF World Tour event, and will be the player to watch out for this year at the Qatar Open.The 2012 world junior champion is highly rated on the circuit and has set his sights on the 2014 World Championship, to be held in Japan. “The World Tour is an opportunity for me to improve my game ahead of the big event. And I want to win as many events as possible. But it’s not going to be easy. The competition is strong and my rivals are experienced. I will take it on game at a time,” said Zhendong, who won the Polish and German Opens last year. The other players who will be in contention for the title are Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, China’s Yan An, Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan, Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus and Japan’s Jun Mizutani, who complete the top eight seeding. The women’s section too is packed with star names. Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa and Korea’s Seo Hyowon are the top three seeds, with any one capable of winning the title on their day.However, Ishikawa and Hyowon are in top form, having fared well in Kuwait. Ishikawa caused a major upset by beating China’s Wu Yang and Hyowon pushed eventual runner up Chen Meng to the limit in an 80-minute quarter-final marathon.Germany’s Han Ying is the fourth seed. Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus, Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching plus the Korean duo of Seok Hajung and Yang Haeun complete the top eight names.The local interest will be on Qatar’s Ahmad al-Mohannadi and Aia Mohamed, who have been handed wildcards for the men’s and women’s singles event respectively. Ahmad and Aia are the only two local players who have found a place in the main draw, as others failed to cross the qualification hurdle yesterday.The paddlers, who finished first in each of the 31 groups in the qualification stage of the men’s singles, booked their place in the main draw. While in the women’s section, the top two players in 16 groups entered the money-making round.The men’s and women’s winners will walk away with $35,000 each while runners-up will pocket $17,000. For the first time, losers in the opening round will each receive $1,500. This year around 200 players from 35 nations will take part in the tournament.