# 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup

The 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup was a table tennis competition held in Paris, France, from 19 to 21 October 2018. It was the 39th edition of the ITTF-sanctioned event, and the third time that it had been staged in Paris.
In the final, China's Fan Zhendong defeated Timo Boll of Germany, 4–1, to win his second World Cup title.

## Qualification

In total, 20 players qualified for the World Cup:
* 18 players from the five Continental Cups held during 2018
* A host association representative
* A wild card, selected by the ITTF
A maximum of two players from each association could qualify.
As reigning World Champion, China's Ma Long was invited to take part, but withdrew prior to the event. His place was taken by Lin Gaoyuan.
| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Places | Qualified players |
| 2018 Europe Top 16 Cup | 3–4 February 2018 | Montreux | 3 | Timo Boll Dimitrij Ovtcharov Jonathan Groth |
| 2018 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup | 1–3 March 2018 | Nairobi | 1 | Quadri Aruna |
| 2018 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup | 6–8 April 2018 | Yokohama | 3 | Fan Zhendong Lin Gaoyuan Lee Sang-su |
| 2018 ITTF-Oceania Cup | 18–19 May 2018 | Port Vila | 1 | Hu Heming |
| 2018 ITTF Pan-America Cup | 15–17 June 2018 | Asunción | 2 | Hugo Calderano Gustavo Tsuboi |
| Additional qualifiers | n/a | n/a | 8 | Jeong Sang-eun Tomokazu Harimoto Koki Niwa Wong Chun Ting Vladimir Samsonov Mattias Falck Kanak Jha Panagiotis Gionis |
| Host association representative | n/a | n/a | 1 | Simon Gauzy |
| ITTF wild card | n/a | n/a | 1 | Emmanuel Lebesson |
| Total | Total | Total | 20 | |

### Notes

* ↑ Egypt's Omar Assar won the Africa Cup, but Quadri Aruna (as runner-up) qualified for the World Cup as the Africa Cup representative when Assar withdrew.
* ↑ Based on Continental Cup finishing position and ITTF World Ranking on 1 July 2018.

## Competition format

The tournament consisted of two stages: a preliminary group stage and a knockout stage. The players seeded 9 to 20 were drawn into four groups, with three players in each group. The top two players from each group joined the top eight seeded players in the second stage of the competition, which consisted of a knockout draw.

## Seeding

The seeding list was based on the official ITTF world ranking for October 2018.
* Fan Zhendong (champion)
* Timo Boll (final)
* Dimitrij Ovtcharov (semifinals)
* Lin Gaoyuan (semifinals)
* Lee Sang-su (quarterfinals)
* Tomokazu Harimoto (quarterfinals)
* Wong Chun Ting (first round)
* Koki Niwa (quarterfinals)
* Hugo Calderano (preliminary round)
* Simon Gauzy (first round)
* Jeong Sang-eun (first round)
* Jonathan Groth (first round)
* Mattias Falck (first round)
* Quadri Aruna (preliminary round)
* Vladimir Samsonov (quarterfinals)
* Gustavo Tsuboi (first round)
* Emmanuel Lebesson (first round)
* Kanak Jha (first round)
* Panagiotis Gionis (preliminary round)
* Hu Heming (preliminary round)

## Preliminary stage

The preliminary group stage took place on 19 October, with the top two players in each group progressing to the main draw.
| | Group A | Samsonov | Lebesson | Calderano | Points |
| 15 | V. Samsonov | | 4–2 | 4–1 | 4 |
| 17 | E. Lebesson | 2–4 | | 4–3 | 3 |
| 9 | Hugo Calderano | 1–4 | 3–4 | | 2 |
| | Group B | Gauzy | Jha | Aruna | Points |
| 10 | Simon Gauzy | | 4–0 | 4–3 | 4 |
| 18 | Kanak Jha | 0–4 | | 4–2 | 3 |
| 14 | Quadri Aruna | 3–4 | 2–4 | | 2 |
| | Group C | Jeong | Tsuboi | Gionis | Points |
| 11 | Jeong Sang-eun | | 4–0 | 4–1 | 4 |
| 16 | Gustavo Tsuboi | 0–4 | | 4–1 | 3 |
| 19 | Panagiotis Gionis | 1–4 | 1–4 | | 2 |
| | Group D | Groth | Falck | Hu | Points |
| 12 | Jonathan Groth | | 4–3 | 4–0 | 4 |
| 13 | Mattias Falck | 3–4 | | 4–0 | 3 |
| 20 | Hu Heming | 0–4 | 0–4 | | 2 |

## Main draw

The knockout stage took place from 20–21 October.
| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Fan Zhendong | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 16 | Gustavo Tsuboi | 7 | 9 | 6 | 8 | | | | 1 | Fan Zhendong | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | Vladimir Samsonov | 11 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 11 | | | 15 | Vladimir Samsonov | 3 | 6 | 10 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Wong Chun Ting | 6 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Fan Zhendong | 10 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Koki Niwa | 11 | 11 | 4 | 12 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Lin Gaoyuan | 12 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 12 | Jonathan Groth | 8 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 5 | | | 8 | Koki Niwa | 10 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 18 | Kanak Jha | 8 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 3 | | | 4 | Lin Gaoyuan | 12 | 5 | 14 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | Lin Gaoyuan | 11 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Fan Zhendong | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 11 | | |
| 3 | Dimitrij Ovtcharov | 11 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 12 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Timo Boll | 9 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 8 | | |
| 13 | Mattias Falck | 5 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 3 | Dimitrij Ovtcharov | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Simon Gauzy | 6 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 5 | Lee Sang-su | 7 | 5 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Lee Sang-su | 11 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Dimitrij Ovtcharov | 14 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 5 | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| 6 | Tomokazu Harimoto | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | Timo Boll | 12 | 11 | 15 | 9 | 13 | 11 |
| 11 | Jeong Sang-eun | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | | | | 6 | Tomokazu Harimoto | 11 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 9 | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Lin Gaoyuan | 11 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 11 | | |
| 17 | Emmanuel Lebesson | 8 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 7 | | | 2 | Timo Boll | 9 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Dimitrij Ovtcharov | 7 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 3 | | |
| 2 | Timo Boll | 11 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |