ITTF releases seeding list for 2018 Men's World Cup

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The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Monday released the seeding list for the 2018 Men's World Cup in Paris, France. Fan Zhendong from China is listed as the No.1 Seed of the tournament.

This year's ITTF Men's World Cup will take place from October 19 to 21. It will be the sixth time for the event to come to France and the third time for Paris as the host.

Lin Gaoyuan from China is listed as the No.4 Seed of the 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup. /VCG Photo

Fan currently ranks No.1 on ITTF's general list of men's standings. His compatriot Lin Gaoyuan who will replace Ma Long in Paris is the No.4 Seed. Timo Boll from Germany is No.2 while his fellow Dimitrij Ovtcharov is No.3. 15-year-old rising star, Tomokazu Harimoto from Japan will attend the event as the No.6 Seed.

The first eight seeded players will skip the group stage and enter directly the round of 16. According to the drawing rules for the knockout stage, the first two seeded players, Fan Zhendong and Timo Boll will not be in the same division.

Tomokazu Harimoto from Japan is listed as the No.6 Seed of the event. /VCG Photo

However, No.3 and No.4 seeds will be assigned randomly to different divisions, meaning there will be a 50-percent chance of a Chinese derby between Fan and Lin Gaoyuan. As for Harimoto, he may also meet Fan in the quarter-finals in his first trip to the three major table tennis events (World Cup, World Championship and Summer Olympics).

Champion of this World Cup will win 60,000 US dollars as bonus and receive 2,550 ranking points. If a player ends ranked No.4 in the tournament, he will still get 1,913 ranking points, which is higher than winning a singles title at the Czech Open or the Bulgaria Open. China's Ma Long who currently ranks No.6 in the world and exited the event in August may see his ranking under threat after the World Cup.