WTT Star Contender London 2025...

[AJ Scott]

starts in about an hour from now with the Qualis and goes on thru this
Sunday:
https://www.worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Matches&eventId=3110&innerselectedTab=Scheduled
[today's schedule].  When looking at the schedule, pls. remember that
London is 5 hours ahead of us.  On Sunday, they will turn the clock back
one hour and will then be 4 hrs. ahead of us until the following Sunday
when we turn the clock back.  Anyhow, 4 tables will be in play and all 4
will be livestreamed at the WTT YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@WTTGlobal/streams.

Player list:
https://www.worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Player%20List&eventId=3110&innerselectedTab=Scheduled.
The Harimotos are the top seeds this week...  The top 5 men's seeds are
Harimoto Tomokazu, Darko Jorgic, Lin Yun-ju, Dang Qiu, and Matsushima
Sora.  The top 5 women's seeds are Harimoto Miwa, Itoh Mima, Hashimoto
Honoka, Shi Xunyao and Shin Yu-bin.  A lot of Japanese are playing this
week, so it'll be a shocker if none of them win any of the titles.

Penholders...  For the men, it'll be Dang Qiu and Wong Chun Ting and,
for the women, it'll be the katana-penholder from Japan, Ojio Yuuna,
then Tin-tin Ho of England, and Tee Ai Xin of Malaysia.

Pips-out/anti-spin players...  On the men's side, it'll be Luka
Mladenovic (anti-spin/bh), Ylane Batix (long pips/bh) and Remi Betelu of
France who's now the no. 2 chopper in the world under Muramatsu Yuuto of
Japan.  He might face Mladenovic either later today or tomorrow in the
2nd round of the Qualis.  On the women's side, it's many more, as per
usual, Itoh Mima (short pips/bh), Hashimoto Honoka (top chopper in the
world), Yang Xiaoxin (long pips/bh--back after a long absence?), Kihara
Miyuu (short pips/bh), Manika Batra (now anti-spin/bh?), Linda Bergstrom
(chopper), Yuan Wan (short pips/fh), YD Ghorpade (long pips/bh), Yang
Yiyun (chopper), Ojio Yuuna (short pips/fh), Tin-Tin Ho (short pips/fh),
Yoo Siwoo (short pips/bh), Audrey Zarif (short pips/fh), Tatiana
Kukulkova (short pips/bh?), Lilou Massart (short pips/fh), Wong Hoi Tung
(short pips/bh), Mia Griesel (short pips/fh), Itagaki Koharu (or Koharu
Itagaki in Western order--she's a Japanese girl who plays on the German
Nat'l Junior/Cadet Team--she has short pips on the bh).  I could be
totally mistaken, but I think I'm seeing a shift amongst the
chopblockers from long pips to anti-spin.  I'm under the impression that
there has been for the past few years a new generation of anti-spin
rubber on the market that allows for a limited ability to do quality
attacks.   I wish the ITTF would make the players announce what
equipment they're using, so we the public can know, because it's just
too difficult to tell by watching videos.

There's a few interesting doubles pairings this week...  Itoh Mima will
reunite with former doubles partner Hayata Hina.  Their Japanese nat'l
teammate, Harimoto Miwa, will team up with chopper Hashimoto Honoka. 
And Anna Hursey, the "Welsh Dragon", will team up with Berni Szocs in
the women's doubles and with former English no. 1 Paul Drinkhall in the
mixed.

This event again runs into Sunday, then, a lot of the top players will
cross the border into France and head down south to the 2nd iteration of
WTT Champions Montpellier.  The 1st iteration last year was quite
entertaining, so I'm sure this one will be just as much so.  It starts
next Tuesday, the 28, and runs into the following Sunday.