WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024: Preview, schedule, how to watch live end-of-season table tennis action

The table tennis season comes to its conclusion this week as 16 of the season's best men's and women's singles players and top eight doubles pairings battle for the WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024 in Kitakyushu, Japan, from 20-24 November.

Over five days, the 16 players in each singles category and eight pairs in each of the doubles will aim to finish their season on a high by being crowned the 2024 Finals champion, ahead of a change to the Finals qualifying format for 2025 which will see the two doubles events replaced by mixed doubles.

Singles world number ones Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha headline the athletes taking part, with four Olympic singles medallists, Sun and Hayata Hina on the women's side and Truls Möregårdh and Félix Lebrun on the men's side, competing.

However, a number of players, including legendary former men's world number one Ma Long and both singles Olympic champions Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng, have chosen to end their seasons early and withdraw from the Finals despite qualifying.

Here are some of the players to watch and how you can follow the action from this year's WTT Finals.

• Exclusive: Table tennis GOAT Ma Long reveals no plans to retire yet

Players to watch at WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024

The men's draw pits top seed Wang against Patrick Franziska of Germany in the round of 16, with Wang's Chinese compatriot and now world number two Lin Shidong drawn to face Alexis Lebrun of France.

Félix Lebrun, the third seed, will play Benedikt Duda in the opening round, while fourth seed Liang Jingkun comes up against a tricky test in the form of Japan's Harimoto Tomokazu.

Brazilian world number six Hugo Calderano is also in the draw, but is unseeded, and could face Liang or Harimoto in the quarter-finals.

Sun, meanwhile, faces fellow Chinese paddler Chen Xingtong in the first round of the women's draw, with Chinese players taking three of the four seeded positions.

Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi are the second and third seeds while Hayata is seeded fourth, and all three have relatively easier draws.

Harimoto Miwa, the sister of Tomokazu, is the top-ranked unseeded player and is in Wang Yidi's quarter of the draw. She would present a stern test to Wang if they can get past Jeon Jihee and Cheng I-Ching respectively.

Schedule of 2024 WTT Finals

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC +9 hours) and subject to change.

Wednesday 20 November 2024

• 13:00 Women's singles round of 16, Women's doubles quarter-finals, Men's doubles quarter-finals, Men's singles round of 16
• 19:00 Women's singles round of 16, Men's singles round of 16, Women's doubles quarter-finals, Men's doubles quarter-finals

Thursday 21 November 2024

• 13:00 Women's singles round of 16, Women's doubles quarter-finals, Men's doubles quarter-finals, Men's singles round of 16
• 18:00 Women's singles round of 16, Women's doubles quarter-finals, Men's doubles quarter-finals, Men's singles round of 16

Friday 22 November 2024

• 13:00 Women's singles quarter-finals, Women's doubles semi-finals, Men's doubles semi-finals, Men's singles quarter-finals
• 18:00 Women's singles quarter-finals, Women's doubles semi-finals, Men's doubles semi-finals, Men's singles quarter-finals

Saturday 23 November 2024

• 16:00 Women's singles semi-finals, Men's singles semi-finals
• 20:00 Women's doubles final, Men's doubles final

Sunday 24 November 2024

• 16:00 Men's singles final, Women's singles final

How to watch WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024 live

The matches from the WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024 will be broadcast and live-streamed on World Table Tennis's global partners, including CCTV in People's Republic of China, TV Tokyo in Japan, SPOTV in Southeast Asia and Republic of Korea, Dyn in Germany, Viaplay in Sweden and RMC Sport's Twitch channel in France.

A full list of broadcasters is available on the WTT website.

Matches will also be available to watch via live stream on the WTT YouTube channel – but may be subject to geo-restrictions.