ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals 2023: Preview, schedule, how to watch live action from Durban
Athletes from People's Republic of China are defending champions in four of the five events at the World Championships, which will run from 20–28 May 2023 in Durban, South Africa. Discover who could pose a challenge and how to watch the World Championships Finals.
Table Tennis
The 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals take place in Durban, South Africa, from 20–28 May, with the same question on everyone's lips: will paddlers from the People's Republic of China continue their dominance of the sport?
Chinese athletes have won the singles world titles at every edition since 2003, although Sweden have had representatives in the last two men's singles finals and are just one of the teams with players who are positioned to dethrone their Chinese opponents.
Around 600 athletes will be in action in Durban across the five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles. The defending champions in all but one of those events come from China; Kristian Karlsson/Mattias Falck of Sweden are the reigning men's doubles champions.
Discover everything you need to know about the 57th edition of the World Championships below.
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Players to watch at the table tennis 2023 World Championships
Unsurprisingly, China are heavy favourites to win all five events once more, and regain the men's doubles crown.
Chinese players or pairs have won 11 of the last 12 men's singles, 21 of the last 22 women's singles, 13 of the last 15 men's doubles, 21 of the last 22 women's doubles, and 18 of the last 22 mixed doubles world titles.
The top five Chinese men and women are all in the singles draws, and could prove difficult to crack. That includes the reigning Olympic singles champions Ma Long and Chen Meng, and current world number 1 players Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha.
Defending women's singles champion Wang Manyu is also back, as are the reigning doubles titleholders Sun/Wang (women's) and Wang Chuqin/Sun (mixed).
Sweden are one of the sport's traditional European powerhouses, and saw both Falck (2019) and Truls Möregårdh (2021) reach the men's singles finals at the last two Championships before falling short at the final hurdle.
World number 7 Möregårdh is one of a strong tranche of challengers to the Chinese which includes Harimoto Tomokazu of Japan, Hugo Calderano of Brazil, Lin Yun-ju of Chinese Taipei, and Dang Qiu of Germany.
Harimoto – who recently told Olympics.com that he still draws motivation from losing at the 2019 World Championships – is the best-ranked non-Chinese player in the draw at world number 4.
There is, however, no Timo Boll, with the legendary German veteran still recovering from injury.
The women's singles event is a lot more straightforward on paper, with the top 5 in the world all from China.
Indeed, the question here would seem to be which four reach the semi-finals, and can Wang Yidi (world number 4) or Chen Xingtong (world number 5) spring a surprise on Sun, Wang Manyu, or Chen?
Japan pose the biggest threat to the Chinese hegemony, with world number 7 Ito Mima and world number 8 Hayata Hina the best of the rest of the field.
Perhaps in an attempt to regain the men's doubles crown, the Chinese team has jettisoned the Liang Jingkun/Lin Gaoyuan pairing which won bronze in Houston in 2021. Instead, their main pairing will be Wang Chuqin and Fan, with Lin Gaoyuan joining forces with Lin Shidong as the second Chinese team.
Having won the Olympic mixed doubles event through Mizutani Jun and Ito, Japan are also contenders in this year's World event, with the pairing of Harimoto / Hayata leading the way.
2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals: Schedule and how to watch live action
All times listed are local South Africa Standard Time (UTC +2 hours).
Saturday 20 May - Sessions begin at 10:00, 13:30, 18:30
- Men's singles round of 128
- Women's singles round of 128
- Men's doubles round of 64
- Women's doubles round of 64
- Mixed doubles round of 64
Sunday 21 May - Sessions begin at 10:00, 13:30, 18:30
- Men's singles round of 128
- Women's singles round of 128
- Men's doubles round of 64
- Women's doubles round of 64
- Mixed doubles round of 64
Monday 22 May - Sessions begin at 11:00, 13:30, 18:30
- Men's singles round of 64
- Women's singles round of 64
- Men's doubles round of 32
- Women's doubles round of 32
- Mixed doubles round of 32
Tuesday 23 May - Sessions begin at 11:00, 13:30, 18:30
- Men's singles round of 64
- Women's singles round of 64
- Men's doubles round of 16
- Women's doubles round of 16
- Mixed doubles round of 16
Wednesday 24 May - Sessions begin at 11:00, 13:30, 18:30
- Men's singles round of 32
- Women's singles round of 32
- Men's doubles round of 16
- Women's doubles round of 16
- Mixed doubles quarter-finals
Thursday 25 May - Sessions begin at 11:00, 13:30, 18:30
- Men's singles round of 16
- Women's singles round of 16
- Men's doubles quarter-finals
- Women's doubles quarter-finals
- Mixed doubles semi-finals
Friday 26 May
- 13:00 Mixed doubles final
- 14:00 Men's singles quarter-finals, women's singles quarter-finals, men's doubles semi-finals, women's doubles semi-finals
- 18:30 Men's singles quarter-finals, women's singles quarter-finals
Saturday 27 May
- 13:00 Women's singles semi-finals
- 14:30 Men's doubles final
- 17:00 Men's singles semi-finals
- 18:30 Women's doubles final
Sunday 28 May
- 13:00 Women's singles final
- 14:00 Men's singles final
Matches will be shown by the ITTF's broadcast partners globally, and are also expected to be available on the World Table Tennis live stream.