Almost two months after the completion of his historic sixth Olympic participation and the ranking in positions 17-32 of the Olympic singles tournament in Paris, Panagiotis Gionis is ready for a very strong event in the Mecca of table tennis, China. He left on Tuesday for Beijing, where from September 26 to October 6 China Smash 2024 will take place. It is a top individual tournament of World Table Tennis, in which the cream of the sport takes part. Gionis will compete in singles.
“Shijingshan Shougang Park” is the venue. The matches include men’s and women’s doubles, as well as mixed doubles and have a prize money of 2,000,000 US dollars. The participations come from the world ranking, they are, in fact, mandatory, and if an athlete is absent without a serious reason, then it has a serious impact on the international ranking list.
The experienced defender was ranked number 83 when he was shortlisted and will be in the qualifying process. A knockout board of “64” is there and the qualifiers will be released on the 28th of the month through three qualifying rounds.
The eight athletes who make it to the main draw of ’64’ will join the 56 who will already be there based on their very high position in the world rankings. The draws for the competitions take place on the eve of the start of the tournament.
In the mighty China Smash 2024, Gionis takes on a very difficult task by definition, his first goal is to show a good competitive face at the beginning of the season and, from then on, to chase as much as he can the entrance to the main board.
Finally, as he himself shaped his program in the first part of the season, he will play his first matches against Bogoria in the Polish League in October.
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