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The world's best table tennis players have put away their suits and dresses from the ITTF Star Awards and picked up their rackets for the beginning of the 2015 ITTF World Team Cup starting today in Dubai.

The biennial event invites the top 12 teams, which are made up of six continental teams who qualified as champions of their respective Continental Championships, an additional five teams who finished highest positions at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships, plus one team from the host nation United Arab Emirates.

Newly crowned 2014 ITTF Female Table Tennis Star and world number one DING Ning will lead the Chinese women's team's quest for gold. This task will not be easy, with Singapore, Japan and Romania all vying to cause an upset.

The playing system at the World Team Cup is the same as the team event of the Olympic Games. Each team selects three players, that plays in two singles matches, then doubles, followed by reverse singles, with the first team to win three games winning the match.

The first stage of the competition is a round robin, with the 12 teams being split into four groups of three. The top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout quarter finals!

Text from ITTF

Seven awards were handed out at the prestigious ITTF Star Awards, which took place this evening at the base of the world's tallest building, to recognize the achievements of athletes and coaches in 2014.

The two most eyed awards of the night, the Male and Female Table Tennis Stars were decided by 60,000 public votes from all around the globe, combined with the judging results of an expert panel. The expert panel consisted of a representative from the ITTF Athletes Commission, the ITTF Para Division, the ITTF President, and four members of the international media.

ARUNA fended off tough competition from world number one XU Xin (CHN), Youth Olympic Champion FAN Zhendong (CHN) and European Team Championships gold medalist Marcos FREITAS (POR), to win the distinguished title presented by Ping Pong Dubai.

The two-time Women's World Cup winner stated: "We had a great evening in Dubai. Thanks ITTF and all the people who are helped made me who I am today. Thank you to my coach, my team and all my fans for supporting me."

• Male Table Tennis Star presented by Ping Pong Dubai: Quadri ARUNA (Nigeria)

• Female Table Tennis Star presented by Nittaku: DING Ning (China)

• Male Para Table Tennis Star presented by Tinsue: Alvaro VALERA (Spain)

• Female Para Table Tennis Star presented by Stag International: Sandra PAOVIC (Croatia)

• Table Tennis Star Coach presented by Butterfly: Pedro RUFINO (Portugal)

• Table Tennis Star Point presented by DHS: Quadri ARUNA (Nigeria)

• Fair Play Star: LIU Jia (Austria)

• Text by ITTF