2026 CHALLENGE CUP

• The tournament brings together 6 teams in total. The competition will be played in two thrilling stages:

  • Stage 1 – Group Stage: The 6 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each. A round-robin format will be played within each group. The top 2 teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage.

  • Stage 2 – Knockout Stage: Advancing teams will face off in the Semifinals, leading up to the grand Final to crown the 2026 Challenge Cup Team Champion.

• Every team confrontation (tie) consists of 7 mandatory matches:

  • 4 Singles Matches

  • 3 Doubles Matches

  • Deciding the Winner: There are no individual champions. The winner of the tie is determined collectively. The first team to secure 4 match wins claims the overall victory.

  • Individual Match Format: Each of the 7 individual matches will be played in a Best-of-5 games format (each game is played to 11 points and must be won by a margin of 2 clear points).

• Team Roster Size: Each of the 6 participating teams must register a roster of a minimum of 7 players and a maximum of 10 players.

• Line-up Strategy: A total of 10 player slots (4 for singles, 6 for doubles) must be filled for each team confrontation.

  • Teams with a full roster of 10 players can deploy a unique player for each slot (no player plays twice).

  • Teams with 7 to 9 players must strategically assign certain players to play in both singles and doubles matches to complete the 10 slots.

• Player Limitation: To ensure fairness and showcase team depth, a single player can play a maximum of 2 matches (1 singles and 1 doubles) per team confrontation.

• Open to current students or teachers from those Chinese academies.
• Former or current state players and national players are not allowed to participate in the tournament

DHS DJ40+ 40mm+ ball shall be used.