GAC Spanish Open starts today

The 2012 GAC Spanish Open will officially start today in the Spanish city of Almeria. In the Singles event, new winners will be proclaimed as the defending champions will not be on duty while in the Doubles, only one player from the winning pair last year will perform. Leading names in the men division are Mizutani, Ovtcharov, Chuang, and Samsonov. In the women division, Feng Tianwei, Ishikawa, Tie Yana and Fukuhara are the favorites to win the title. 

The third ITTF World Tour for this year is the 2012 GAC Spanish Open which will be held in Almeria starting today, April 18 and will end on the 22nd. The competition has gathered some big names in the sport and are expected to have an interesting fight.

In the women division, the defending champion Sayaka Hirano of Japan will not be fighting in the arena of Almeria as she is set to earn her slot for the London Olympics in the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Hong Kong. 

The top seed in the event is the Singaporean star Feng Tianwei. In her debut in the Qatar Open, Feng Tianwei lost to Han Ying of Germany in the Round 32. A week later in Kuwait, she had another early exit after being swept by Chang Chenchen of China also in the opening round of the main draw. These results are a shocker to the table tennis fans as much as being expected from her since she contributed greatly to the unlikely victory of Singapore in 2010 Moscow Championships. 

Meanwhile, Feng Tianwei is not the only strong contender in the competition. With the absence of Hirano, the other Japanese forerunners Kasumi Ishikawa and Ai Fukuhara will try to earn the first title for Japan. However, things aren't looking so promising for them after their dramatic defeat against South Korea in Dortmund. 

Another strong contender is Tie Yana of Hong Kong. In Dortmund, she portrayed a strong performance contributing all she can for her team. It can be said that Tie Yana really led Hong Kong to the bronze medal. In the semifinals, Tie Yana was the only player to have pierced through the straight victories of the Chinese women. 

Singaporeans Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei, South Koreans Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young, Hong Kong's Jiang Huajun, and German Wu Jiaduo complete the top ten seeds of the Women Singles. 

In the men, the South Korean veteran Oh Sang Eun will not be around to defend his title. This means that there will be a new winner who will be proclaimed at the end of the competition. The top seed in the event is Jun Mizutani of Japan. In his first appearance this year in Doha, he reached the quarterfinals before losing against the Chinese veteran Ma Lin. However in Kuwait, Mizutani went all the way to the end where he won against Ryu Seung Min and won the championship title. Would he be able to the same in Almeria? 

Well, the answer also depends if the second seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov will allow it. Since last year, Dimitrij Ovtcharov has caught the attention of many especially by the Chinese Team with his strong improvements in terms of his performance. In the December world ranking, he successfully entered in the elite top ten. Since then, he continued to become a strong force in the German camp. 

Another strong contender is Chuang Chih Yuan who performed well in Dortmund giving the South Korean Joo Se Hyuk a rough match in both group stage and in the main draw. The Belorussian veteran Vladimir Samsonov will also be around to challenge the younger players with his rich experience. 

With Oh Sang Eun's absence, Lee Jung Woo will be the strong hope for South Korea in the event as he is seeded in fifth place. He is followed by two Singaporeans Gao Ning and Zhan Jian. Hong Kong's Tang Peng, Chen Weixing of Austria and another Singaporean Yang Zi complete the top ten seeds in the Men Singles. 

The qualifying stage will usher the competition and while the main draw will start on the third day of competition.