China Absent Again! Japan’s Women Dominate as Lim Jonghoon Starts from Men’s Singles Qualifiers

The WTT Star Contender Muscat will take place from November 17 to 22 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat. However, the Chinese National Table Tennis Team will be absent once again, as the event coincides with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao National Games scheduled for the same period. With China out of the lineup, France’s Félix Lebrun and Japan’s Miyuu Kihara headline the men’s and women’s singles draws as the top seeds, making this tournament one of the most open and unpredictable of the year.

The table tennis events of the National Games will be held from November 7 to 20. Following their withdrawal from the WTT Frankfurt Champions held from November 4 to 9, the Chinese team will also miss the Muscat Star Contender. Their absence adds significant intrigue to the title race, as the Muscat champion will earn a valuable 600 world ranking points. At the time of registration, France’s Félix Lebrun leads the men’s seeding, followed by Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju, and France’s Alexis Lebrun in second to fourth positions. Germany’s Qiu Dang, France’s Simon Gauzy, Korea’s Jang Woojin, and Denmark’s Jonathan Groth complete the top eight seeds. Other notable entrants include Korea’s Oh Junsung, Japan’s Yukiya Uda and Daigo Tazaki, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna. Japan’s top men—Tomokazu Harimoto, Haruki Matsushima, and Shunsuke Togami—will not compete in this event.

In the women’s singles, Japan continues to dominate the top seedings. Miyu Kato and Hina Hayata lead the field as the top two seeds, followed by Romania’s Bernadette Szocs and Japan’s Miyuu Nagasaki. Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching, Japan’s Miyuu Kihara, Korea’s Joo Cheon-Hee, and France’s Yuan Jia Nan round out the top eight. The lineup also features Japan’s Sakiyo Yokoi, Miu Hirano, and Hitomi Sato, along with Korea’s Kim Na-Young, Lee Eun-Hye, and Romania’s Elizabeta Samara. Although key Japanese players like Miwa Harimoto and Honoka Hashimoto are missing, Japan’s women’s squad remains the deepest and most balanced, giving them a strong chance to claim the title. Korea’s top women’s ace, Shin Yubin, who has been an active competitor on the tour, is also skipping this leg.

A particularly interesting storyline comes from Korea’s Lim Jonghoon, who will start from the men’s singles qualifiers despite his strong doubles record. Lim enters as the top seed in the qualifying draw. While he has achieved solid results in doubles—both in mixed with Shin Yubin and men’s doubles with Ahn Jaehyun—his relatively low singles ranking excluded him from the upcoming Chengdu Mixed Team World Cup roster. To stay competitive internationally, Lim now faces the task of boosting his singles ranking. For the Chengdu event, Korea’s lineup was determined by world ranking, with Jang Woojin, Ahn Jaehyun, Oh Junsung, and Park Kanghyun representing the men’s team, and Shin Yubin, Lee Eun-Hye, Kim Na-Young, and Choi Hyo-Joo competing for the women’s side.