2015 Men's World Cup of Table Tennis: Schedule, Preview and More

Halmstad, Sweden, will play host to 20 of the globe's best players when the 2015 Men's World Cup of Table Tennis begins on Friday, October 16.

Among those confirmed for the tournament are 2012 World Cup winner and last year's silver medallist Ma Long, as well as the regional cup winners from Europe, Africa, North and Latin America and Oceania.

The 12 players seeded between ninth and 20th will be split into four groups of three to face off for the right to face the top eight in the round of 16, with the bottom player in each group being eliminated.

Here is the schedule for the 36th edition of the tournament, courtesy of its official website:

Groups A, B, C, D	Time (BST)	Fixtures
Main Draw	Time (BST)	Fixtures
Friday, October 16	12 p.m.	A1 vs. A3, B1 vs. B3
	12:45 p.m.	C1 vs. C3, D1 vs. D3
	2 p.m.	A1 vs. A2, B1 vs. B2
	2:45 p.m.	C1 vs. C2, D1 vs. D2
	5:15 p.m.	A2 vs. A3, B2 vs. B3
	6:15 p.m.	C2 vs. C3, D2 vs. D3
Saturday, October 17	10 a.m.	Last 16 Match 1, Last 16 Match 2
	10:45 a.m.	Last 16 Match 3, Last 16 Match 4
	11:30 a.m.	Last 16 Match 5, Last 16 Match 6
	12:15 p.m.	Last 16 Match 7, Last 16 Match 8
	4 p.m.	Quarter-Final 1
	4:45 p.m.	Quarter-Final 2
	5:30 p.m.	Quarter-Final 3
	6:15 p.m.	Quarter-Final 4
Sunday, October 18	10:30 a.m.	Semi-Final 1
	11:15 a.m.	Semi-Final 2
	2 p.m.	Third-Place Play-Off
	2:45 p.m.	Final

Preview

Current world champion Ma Long will undoubtedly be the player to beat at the World Cup this year, particularly with 2013 winner and Chinese national champion Xu Xin not confirmed.

The 26-year-old will still be reeling from his recent shock defeat to a player 11 years his junior at the Chinese National Championships, per TableTennisDaily:

However, he did enjoy success at the doubles, as TableTennisDaily highlighted:

Ma will be seeking to achieve a table tennis Grand Slam—winning the World Championships and the World Cup in the same year—having reigned supreme in the former tournament in Suzhou earlier in the year.

There remains a question over his fitness, though, with the International Table Tennis Federation's official Twitter feed revealing Ma is in the process of recovering from a back injury:

If Ma isn't operating at peak capacity, his chances of claiming a second gold medal at the tournament are slim.

World No. 3 Fan Zhendong will be one of the biggest challengers. The 18-year-old sensation claimed bronze at the World Championships earlier this year and gold in the singles and the doubles at the Asian Championships.

Another threat could be Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov. The world No. 5 has never reached the final in his five World Cup appearances, but the 27-year-old is entering the competition in outstanding form, having just won the European Championships, as TableTennisDaily noted:

Ovtcharov took bronze in the 2013 World Cup in Verviers, and now in the form of his life, he could be set for an even more successful showing in Sweden.