96 Athletes. One Goal. To be crowned a World Cup Champion. The ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup 2025 is set to ignite the Galaxy Arena in Macao tomorrow, where elite table tennis talent will battle for global supremacy. The draw ceremony—a spectacle witnessed by a full house of ITTF officials, media, and live streaming to over 4.6 million viewers—was executed with players selecting their own fate based on seeding, ensuring a transparent and enthralling kick-off to the event.
In the Women’s singles, defending champion and World No.1 Sun Yingsha (China) leads Group 1 as she faces up against Mo Zhang (Canada) and Chien Tung-Chuan (Chinese Taipei). China’s dominance is unmistakable, as top seeds Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi, Chen Xingtong, and Kuai Man headline Groups 2 through 5. Notably, Group 4 promises intrigue as Chen Xingtong faces Germany’s Sabine Winter— who’s recently embraced an ‘Anti-spin’ rubber on her backhand to great effect, taking the European circuit by storm.
Additionally, Group 9 will see a captivating clash between Romania’s Bernadette Szocs and India’s Sreeja Akula, who will be familiar with each other’s tactics having participated multiple times together in India’s Ultimate Table Tennis League. American star Lily Zhang in Group 14 is tasked with overcoming Korea Republic’s seasoned chopper, Suh Hyo Won, against whom she trails 0-3 in head-to-head clashes.
In the Men’s singles, World No.1 and Singapore Smash 2025 champion Lin Shidong (China) will be looking to start his campaign with a bang as he takes on Hwan Bae (Australia) and Milosz Redzimski (Poland) in Group 1. Following him closely will be World No.2 and semifinalist of last year’s edition Wang Chuqin (China), who faces Tomislav Pucar (Croatia) and Aditya Sareen (Australia). With both players coming off of big tournament wins at the Singapore Smash 2025 and WTT Champions Chongqing 2025, they will be keen to add the ITTF World Cup to their trophy cabinet.
Group 7 promises a clash of European titans as Patrick Franziska (Germany), Alvaro Robles (Spain) and Simon Gauzy (France) will battle it out for qualification.
“It is my first time playing in the World Cup and it is very exciting to be here. Only the very best players make it here, so I am looking forward to it. I have a very tough group. I have been teammates with Simon, and have played many times with Patrick, so we know each other very well and I will try my best”, said Robles.
In a similar continental clash, African heavyweights Quadri Aruna (Nigeria) and Abdel-Kader Salifou (Benin) are pitted against each other in Group 16, headlined by Anton Kallberg (Sweden).
“I am really proud to be here, representing Benin. It is my first World Cup, both for myself and representing Benin so I am really happy and hope to do well. I played a tough match against Aruna at the ITTF African Cup recently but I hope that I can do better. I have also played against Kallberg a long time ago in the Bundesliga, so I will try to do my best”, said Salifou.
With a single qualifier advancing from each round-robin group, every match is a do-or-die affair. With only Sun Yingsha and Dimitrij Ovtcharov having conquered this stage before, the remaining contenders will be driven by a desire to etch their names into table tennis history.
For further updates on draws and results, follow this link.
