What is in store for the London Marathon and the World Team Table Tennis Championships

London Marathon

This Sunday the streets of London will be filled with tens of thousands of fitness fanatics as well as the world’s top elite athletes as the London Marathon kicks. The event is usually held in April but has been moved to October in 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event is great opportunity for charity fundraising and for the general public to achieve something great. 

Seeing the huge crowds of supports for mass races like these is always a sight to behold especially when the event centres around iconic London sights such as Tower Bridge and Buckingham palace.

However, here at 1xbit we are really interested in the elite racing and the super humans that are about to dominate the streets of the big smoke. The London marathon is one of six World Marathon Majors, and it isn’t unusual to see the marathon world record broken at the event. In 2017 Mary Keitany ran a time of 2:17:01 at the event which is still the current World record for a Women only race.

As for 2022, who are the big names to watch? One blow to the race is that the world’s biggest name in Marathon running won’t Eliud Kipchoge won’t be running after breaking his own men’s world record by 30 seconds last Sunday in the Berlin Marathon. Therefore, all eyes are most likely to be on Sisay Lemma who is the defending men’s champion after winning last year’s race by 27 seconds. His biggest threat will most certainly be the Somali-born Belgian runner Bashir Abdi who is the current European record holder.

In the women’s race, a similar big-name loss has shadowed the race with Brigid Kosgei who won the London Marathon in 2019 and 2020 and ran the fastest time ever recorded by a women at the 2019 Chicago Marathon (in the women’s marathon there are two world records, one for women only races and one for races ran at the same time as men) having to drop out of the race due to a hamstring issue. But don’t worry, the defending champion from 2021 Joyciline Jepkosgei who is another giant of the running world will be taking to the course to give everyone a show. Her nearest rival will be the Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw who is an upcoming talent that has been on top form in her previous races this year.

Here's to hoping the famously bad British weather holds out and gives everyone a day to remember!

2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals

Well, table tennis fanatics, what an event we have waiting for us this week. It’s time for the 2022 ITTF World Team Championships Finals, the most important event in the table tennis calendar! The event will see the world’s best international teams face off against each other, with more than 250 athletes out in force representing 62 countries across 10 days of table tennis action. But who will be victorious?

Chengdu, China will host the 56th edition of the event, and play will take places in two stages, a group phase organised on the round robin principle followed by knockout. There are certainly some big countries to watch out for! In the Men’s Team event the top countries are China, Germany, Japan, Korea Republic, Sweden, Brazil, Chinese Taipei and England. 

Undoubtedly the breath-taking Chinese national team will almost be an unstoppable tide of power at this event, being the most successful country of all time and having the best players in the world at their disposal. The world number #1, #2 and #3 all play for China, including the practically undisputed greatest player of all time Ma Long at number #2, so all other teams are going to have to produce something special to stop them! Even their 4th player, Wang Chuqin, ranked #11 in the world, managed to get past the top 36 best players in the world back in July at the WTT Star Contender European Summer Series and lift the title! China therefore also demonstrate a sublime strength in depth. 

The last nine World Team Championships, taking place over the last 21 years, have all been won by China! Is there anything that can stop them?

The last time a non-Chinese team won the tournament was back in 2000, and that was Sweden. Since the 1970s, Sweden has been the second most successful team in this competition, and in the last 40 years are the only team other than China that have actually won it! The Swedes will be hoping, more than ever, that they can stop China once again. Truls Moregard will be the spearhead in this Swedish team; the bat-throwing bad boy, ranked #6 in the world, found himself in the final of the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships finals, and also in the final of the WTT Star Contender European Summer Series in July, beating a host of big stars along the way, including Chinese world number #3 Liang Jingkun. Can he push his country to upset China and reclaim Swedish silverware?

In the Women’s Team Event, the brilliance of the Chinese team is there for us all to behold, yet again. The World number #1, #2, #3 and #4 make up four of the five members of the Chinese Women’s team, so all the other countries have already got their work cut out! These Chinese women have also dominated every single’s competition throughout the whole of 2022, with every competition containing the four of them won by one of the four, a huge feat! World number #3 Wang Manyu has been the most successful singles player for China this year, winning the WTT Macao in January and the WTT Champions European Summer Series 2022 in July, can she ensure her team live up to expectations and continue their dominance?

The supremacy of the China’s Women’s team in this tournament is even more overwhelming, with the Chinese team only failing to win the competition on two occasions since 1975! Winning 20 of the last 22 tournaments! Truly a feat like no other.

If anyone can stop them, Japan will surely hope they will be the ones to do it. Their team has World number #5 Hina Hayata and World number #6 Mima Ito, who they will hope can upset the Chinese stronghold! Back in 2018, Mima Ito lifted the Japan Open title, beating Chinese World number #3 Wang Manyu in the final, can she bring her A game and take down some more Chinese players this time around?

Japan haven’t lifted the ITTF World Team Championships trophy since 1971, however they have finished runner up at the last three tournaments. Let’s see if they have what it takes to go one step further this time.

It’s going to be tough for all nations to stop the Chinese mastery that we are seeing across both the Men and Women’s events. However, a whole host of superb athletes will be taking the stage in Chengdu with points to prove, and points to win. One thing is for certain; table tennis doesn’t get any better than this. Tune in to see the beautiful game played beautifully at the grandest of all events.