The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced this week that players would not be separated at the draw of the coming Women's World Cup in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province, between November 8 and 10.

This rule change is no good news for China, which sent Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha to attend the event. Chen and Sun are the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds based on their current world rankings. Meanwhile, China's biggest rival Mima Ito from Japan, is the No. 2 seed. That means Chen and Ito will be in different divisions, but there's no telling which division Sun will end in.

If Chen and Sun meet before the final match, one of them has to go, and that will be in Ito's favor. Both Chen and Sun hold an advantageous record over Ito in the past competitions. The last time Chen met Ito happened at the Qatar Open in March. Chen came back from a 1-0 trail and defeated Ito 4-1 in the women's singles final match, winning the gold and claiming her fourth straight victory over Ito.

Sun does not fear Ito either. She achieved a 3-2 win over Ito, coming back from a 2-0 trail at the ITTF Team World Cu last year. Sun also beat Ito 4-1 in the ITTF German Open in last October. Ito even shed tears after the loss.

All three will make their singles World Cup debut in November, and each of them is eying for the first tile of the event in her career. The competition for Olympic attendance in Tokyo is extremely intense among Chinese players. Both Chen and Sun need good performance at the World Cup for their favors.