Practices, says the saying, makes perfect. Today in Qatar, two old practice partners proved the platitude prescient. At the 2018 Korean Open on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour, video surfaced of Japan's top-rated woman, Mima Ito (pictured, left), practicing with one of Europe's top men, Dimitrij "Dima" Ovtcharov of Germany (pictured, right). The two stars worked on service and receive drills and traded furious backhands. While neither would go on to win the event, the seeds of practice take time to take root. Now, flash forward three years and both Ito and Ovtcharov are reaping the fruits of their training. Both players signed up for the first ITTF tournament of the year, which also happens to be the official premiere of World Table Tennis (WTT). WTT has now supplanted the ITTF World Tour as the elite international table tennis circuit, now offering a series of events in a secure bubble dubbed the WTT Middle East Hub. The first WTT tournament, the WTT Contender, concluded today in Doha, Qatar. Although the draw was weakened by China's last-minute withdrawal due to COVID-19 concerns, the remaining players were somehow able to console themselves. 20-year-old Mima Ito is ranked #3 in the world. Absent any Chinese competition, she was seeded first in Doha. Ito mirrored her #1 seeding with a first-place finish, overcoming compatriot Hina Hayata, 4-2 in the finals. With her befuddling serves, short pips backhand block and lightning-quick off-the-bounce attack, Ito showed why she is the biggest threat to dethrone China at this summer's Olympics. Meanwhile, over in the men's draw, Germany's 32-year-old Dimitrij Ovtcharov was likely not a popular bet to win the title. Even absent China's prohibitive favorites, Ovtcharov was seeded fifth behind such heavy hitters as 2019 World Championship runner-up Mattias Falck of Sweden, 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champion Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan and T2 Diamond Malaysia 2019 champion Lin Yun-ju. To the surprise of many, and to the delight of a wise smattering of bettors who picked the long shot, Ovtcharov and his signature backhand serve would upset all three to win the first ever WTT men's singles title. "I am very satisfied with my performance at this tournament and in the final today," said the champion Ovtcharov. "I am very happy that I was able to beat such strong players as Lin, Harimoto and Falck on my way to the title. That makes the triumph all the more valuable." Along with the $15,000 USD first prize, Ovtcharov will be awarded 400 world ranking points for his WTT victory, equal to the spoils secured by Ito. When the weekly ratings are published on Tuesday, the current #12 Ovtcharov will not only leapfrog his Olympic teammate Timo Boll for the top German world ranking, but knock the living legend out of the top 10. And he owes it all to his old practice partner, Mima Ito.

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