Japan keeps pace with the ITTF and WTT calendar: the world’s fiercest Olympic qualification race

Top players take part in more than a dozen tournaments a year. To add ranking points, they can’t easily choose to skip events.

ITTF and WTT have announced the 2027 schedule. The events covered include the WTT Champions (six tournaments), Smash (four tournaments), Finals (one tournament), and the newly established Doubles World Cup, as well as the Singles and Mixed Team World Cups.

The overall number of tournaments is almost unchanged from 2026, but the Men’s and Women’s and Mixed Doubles World Cups have been added. In addition to these, continental championships such as the Asian Championships and European Championships, as well as continental cups like the Asian Cup, are also included. If players entered everything, the total would come to 16 tournaments.

Looking back at previous examples, many Japanese national players, driven by the need to secure Olympic berths through world rankings, entered 13 to 14 tournaments in the year before the Olympics, wearing themselves down while carrying injuries.

Although WTT Smash and Champions can be skipped, only up to two Champions events can be missed without penalty. Above all, top players cannot easily choose to sit out, because they need to keep adding ranking points.

Ranking points are valid for 52 weeks, or about one year. What counts is the total from the top eight tournaments with the highest points earned during those past 52 weeks. That is why players keep competing in WTT events, selecting tournaments where they are likely to improve on the lower-scoring events currently included in their top-eight total.