New rules for 3rd stage is come out, it is very very complex !
9 players will played in 3rd stage, they will divided into 3 groups, the top 3 players in world rankings as the #1 seed in each group. Then according to the world rankings, next 3 high-ranked players could choose which group they want to join, but the lowest ranked player got first choice.
For example, now Xu Xin is world #1, Zhang Jike is #2, Ma Long is #3, so they will as #1 seed in each group, like Xu Xin is #1 seed in group A, Ma Long is #1 seed in group B and Zhang Jike is #1 seed in group C.
And now Wang Hao is world #4, Ma Lin is world #6 and Hao Shuai is world #13, so these 3 guys could choose which group they want to join, but Hao Shuai got first choice, then Ma Lin, then Wang Hao.
And the remaining 3 players also can choose one group they want to join, according to their age, the youngest one got first choice.
======================
3 players who got the first place in each group could direct to WTTC, but there is a strict standard for the "first place", only the player who could got two straight wins in group games then he could direct to WTTC. If in the group games, player A beat player B, player B beat player C, but player A lost to player C, so no one could got two straight wins, so they will have matches again, but this time they only play one set (11-point).
If still couldn't determined who is the winner, have matches again, play one set (5-point) ! If still nobody could got two straight wins, have matches again and again, and the match is start from the scores is 10:10 !!
The remaining 6 players will divided into 2 groups, 2 winners (the rule is same as the one mentioned above) also could go to Pairs ! So the total 5 players could played in WTTC 2013.