The draw for WTT Champions Montpellier, made on Sunday, gives the home crowd an eventful start and China's men a new leader. Wang Chuqin, the world champion, has pulled out with an injury, and Félix Lebrun, the world No 2 and the 2024 champion, opens against Denmark's Anders Lind at 6.30pm local time on Tuesday.

The tournament runs from 27 October to 1 November at the Sud de France Arena. It is singles only, with 32 players in each draw, and this is the third edition in the city.

Wang Chuqin's withdrawal

Wang's absence leaves Lin Shidong at the head of a five-man Chinese entry with Wen Ruibo, Zhou Qihao, Xiang Peng and Liang Jingkun. Reports in China differ on who has taken Wang's place in the draw. With China's men spread across the bracket, Wen and Liang meet in an all-Chinese first round, Lin plays South Korea's Lim Jonghoon and Xiang takes on Dmitrij Ovtcharov.

The men's draw

Sora Matsushima, the world No 1 and top seed, returns after reaching last year's final and starts against Germany's Dang Qiu. Truls Moregard, the defending champion, plays France's Thibault Poret on Tuesday, and Hugo Calderano, the sixth seed, faces Japan's Hiroto Shinozuka.

Tomokazu Harimoto arrives as the new Asian champion after coming from two games down to beat Li Tianyang in Tashkent on Sunday. He meets Simon Gauzy in the first round.

The women's draw

Wang Manyu is the top seed and world No 1 again after regaining the top spot in the 12 October rankings. She opens against Egypt's Hana Goda. Wang Yidi defends the title, and Sun Yingsha, back after injury, plays France's Camille Lutz in Tuesday's midday session.

Miwa Harimoto, who has won the last three Champions events, meets Brazil's Bruna Takahashi as she chases a fourth in a row. Chen Yi, the new Asian champion, plays Taiwan's Peng Yu-han, and last year's finalist Sabine Winter faces France's Jia Nan Yuan. China's women's squad is completed by Kuai Man and Chen Xingtong.

French interest

Félix Lebrun, the European champion, is joined by his brother Alexis, the world No 8, who plays Germany's Patrick Franziska on Wednesday evening. Three more French men face seeded opponents: Poret meets Moregard, Flavien Coton plays South Korea's Jang Woojin and Gauzy takes on Harimoto. In the women's draw, Prithika Pavade, ranked 37th, meets Japan's Hitomi Sato, the eighth seed, alongside Yuan and Lutz.

Format and how to watch

WTT Champions events are straight knockout, so one defeat ends a player's tournament, and points here count towards qualification for December's WTT Finals Hong Kong. Play runs in two sessions a day, at midday and in the evening local time, an hour ahead of the UK. The finals are on Sunday 1 November, with sessions at 11am and 5.30pm in Montpellier (10am and 4.30pm UK).

Every session is streamed live on World Table Tennis's YouTube channel. Eleven's WTT Champions Montpellier page carries the stream, live scores, the draw and the schedule, with a preview before each day's play and a review after it.