The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Men’s and Women’s World Cup Macao 2025 is set to take place at Galaxy Arena between 14 and 20 April, the Sports Bureau announced during a press conference yesterday.
Some 48 female and 48 male table tennis players will be featured in this year’s competition, which includes the likes of Sun Yingsha, last year’s female winner and the world’s top ranking female player, as well as Lin Shidong, the current world number one in men’s singles.
Other top-tier players that will be joining them include Egyptian Hanada Goda, who won the ITTF-African Cup in February, Hina Hayata of Japan, Félix Lebrun of France and Omar Assar of Egypt.
Stage 1 of the tournament will see the players competing against each other in a round-robin fashion that will see them being split into 16 groups of three. Stage 2 meanwhile will be a knockout phase that will be played to the best of seven games.
The women’s final is set to take place at 7:30 pm on 20 April, with the men’s final scheduled to be held afterwards.
[See more: Having a ball: Why is table tennis so popular in Macao?]
Tickets for the tournament will begin sale at 12 pm tomorrow and will be priced from 85 patacas to 1,500 patacas.
They can be purchased through various channels, including Galaxy Ticketing, macauticket.com or MPay. Interested parties can also visit their local Kong Seng establishments or obtain tickets at the venue during the duration of the event.
Concession discounts of 20 percent are available for full-time students and senior residents who are 65 or more.
A number of renowned players who took part in last year’s Macao world cup will not be returning for the current edition. They include the winner of the men’s singles, Ma Long, as well as Chen Meng and Fan Zhendong.
All three withdrew from ITTF world rankings and World Table Tennis (WTT) competitions, mainly due to a disagreement over the ITTF’s decision to fine players who missed out its tournaments.
