Players from China, Germany and Japan will be the focus of attention at the 2015 World Championships. Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Timo Boll, Li Xiaoxia, Feng Tianwei and Kasumi Ishikawa are only some of favorites for the title but there are other players that can get into the spotlight in Suzhou.
5 days left for the 2015 World Championships to be held in Suzhou, China. The host nation is the favorite for the title, but Germany, Japan and Singapore hope to ruin celebrations.
In the men's event [[Timo Boll]], [[Dimitrij Ovtcharov]], [[Jun Mizutani]], [[Koki Niwa]] and [[Chuang Chih-Yuan]] are China's biggest threats to defend the title. In the women competition [[Feng Tianwei]] is the player to put an end to Chinese dominance.
But there are young players who probably won't win the title, but they can also cause some headaches to the favorites.
Mima Ito and Miu Hirano
With only 13, the Japanese players were the focus of attention at the 2014 German Open. Ito and Hirano won the title in the women's doubles and became the youngest players to win an ITTF title. But the raising stars didn't stop there and clinched the title at the 2014 World Tour Grand Finals months later.
Recently [[Mima Ito]] got into the spotlight again after winning the 2015 German Open and became the youngest player to win an ITTF World Tour's title. On her way to the finals, she beat [[Irene Ivancan]], [[Han Ying]], [[Shan Xiaona]], [[Che Xiaoxi]], [[Feng Tianwei]] and [[Petrissa Solja]]. After such a big achievement, she went up from the place 38th to 15th. Miu Hirano is currently ranked 36.
Petrissa Solja
The 21-year-old player has enjoyed success lately. In February she reached the finals of the 2015 Europe Top-16, where was beaten by Austria's [[Liu Jia]]. Last year she got into semifinals. In March she also showed an superb performance at the 2015 German Open. Solja won the title in the U21 event, women's doubles and got the second place in singles after being defeated by Ito in the finals.
Currently Petrissa Solja is in the 22nd place of the world ranking, her best ranking so far, and is the best ranked German player in Suzhou.
[[Hugo Calderano]]
The 18-year-old player made history last year at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games held in Nanjing, China. He got the bronze medal in the singles event and became the first Brazilian and Latin American player to win an Olympic medal in table tennis.
Months later in the Bundesliga Calderano got one of the most important victories in his career, he swept with Timo Boll by 3-0. This year, at the 2015 Qatar Open, he and [[Gustavo Tsuboi]] got the second place in doubles. In March he defended the title at the 2015 Latin American Championships. For the World Championships, Calderano is expected to reach the round of 16.
Patrick Franziska
[[Timo Boll]] and [[Dimitrij Ovtcharov]] are the big threats to [[Zhang Jike]], [[Ma Long]] and the rest of the Chinese team., but [[Patrick Franziska]], currently ranked 56, can also cause problems to top players. The German player showed an amazing performance at the 2014 World Team Championships, but he couldn't repeat that at the 2014 European Team Championships for injury. Although Franziska wasn't competing during the last months of 2014, he is already in good shape again to shine in Suzhou.
Hugo Calderano vs Timo Boll Video kindly shared by Mesatenista.Net
Fan Zhendong
The wonder boy of China couldn't be out of this list. [[Zhang Jike]], [[Ma Long]] and [[Xu Xin]] are the leading players in Chinese team, but the 18-year-old player has won a place among these players. His debut in world senior tournaments was Paris 2013, where he was eliminated by Zhang Jike in the round of 16.
Two years has passed and [[Fan Zhendong]] has already posted victories over his team mates. He recently beat Ma Long in the finals of the first Chinese trials for Suzhou 2015 and will be the 4th seed in the tournament, so it won't be a big surprise if he caused upsets in the last stages.
Photo and info. source: nzz.ch - ittf.com
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This article by originally appeared on http://tabletennista.com on April 21, 2015 at 09:04PM
