PHILADELPHIA -- For the first time ever, the Womens Table Tennis World Cup is coming to the U.S., bringing 20 top-ranked players from powerhouses such as Singapore, Japan and Germany to Philadelphia.Its so cool; its absolutely amazing, said Lily Zhang, one of two Americans competing. Im so excited that we can finally host the World Cup. Thats huge, you know.Stakes are high. After the Olympics, the World Cup is one of the most prestigious titles in pingpong, and winners will split a $150,000 prize pool.I really want to win, said Elizabeta Samara, 27, a Romanian player seeded 10th in the tournament. Yes, I also want to enjoy, but enjoying not just for fun, you know?Among the competitors are Olympians, a 15-year-old from Japan, a Korean player coached by her mother since the age of six and eight players fresh to the tournament. They will be smashing pingpong balls at speeds of over 60 miles an hour. The players will be whittled down to one champion over six rounds and three days.China has won every World Cup since the tournament began 20 years ago, but because of injuries, it wont be participating. That means a different country will now have the opportunity to snag the title.I expect everybodys level of all the countries to be very close, said Lily Yip, coach of the American team. Maybe our U.S. team can win. You never know.Table tennis has enjoyed an uptick in popularity over the past few decades, but recently, player numbers have been stagnating, dropping from over 19 million in 2010 to around 16.5 million last year, according to USA Table Tennis.Many Americans dont understand that pingpong is actually a very difficult, very high-level sport, Yip said. They still think of it as a basement sport.Tournament organizers are optimistic the World Cup will breathe new life into the game, proving its worthy of more than just a casual round or two.I think that if we can pack this place, well have no choice but to bring this tournament back here, said Gordon Kaye, CEO of USA Table Tennis, one of the sponsors of the event.Matches will be played over the weekend, with the final showdown scheduled for Sunday night. Nmd Outlet Store . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Air Max 270 Outlet Store .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. http://www.discountaustraliashoes.com/cheap-new-balance-fake.html . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. Vapormax Outlet . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Asics Shoes Australia . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. Dale Earnhardt Jr.?wont return to the seat of his Hendrick Motorsports car for at least another two weeks as he continues treatment for a concussion he suffered in June.Earnhardt will be replaced by Alex Bowman this weekend at Michigan International Speedway and Jeff Gordon on Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway.We know how hard Dale is working to get back, team owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement Wednesday. Hes following what the doctors are saying, to the letter, and doing exactly what he needs to do. Everyone wants to see him in a race car, but his health is first and foremost. Were behind him.Earnhardt, 41, has said his biggest issue is his gaze stability -- the ability to focus on an object at a distance while moving his head and not feeling off-balance or nauseated. Part of his rehab includes walking backward while moving his head in a dark room with disco lights, various basketball-type drills and an online 3D program that forces his eyes to work together.I dont know how long its going to take, Earnhardt said Aug. 5. As impatient as I am, I worry about everyone elses patience as well. But Im not going to go in the car until the doctors clear me.The doctors wont let me race. This is not my decision, but its the right decision and I trust what my doctors are telling me. When they say Im good to go I believe them. If they say Im healthy and I can race Im going to race.Earnhardts doctors believe he suffered a concussion June 12 at Michigan but didnt start feeling the effects until four weeks later. He is being treated by doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program. He visited them Wednesday.Dale looks great, Hendrick said Saturday. I had lunch with him and the road crew [last] WWednesday, and youve seen him playing basketball.ddddddddddddWere taking extra effort with the doctors making sure hes going to be 100 percent. ... Hes coming along great, and he wants to get back in the car.Bowman, 23, ran well before being involved in an accident and finishing 26th in the July 17 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the first race Earnhardt sat out because of balance and vision problems.Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup champion, has competed in the last four races, and he said last week a previous commitment would keep him out of the seat this week at Michigan. He retired after the 2015 season and joined the Fox broadcast team, which has the first half of the Cup schedule, and had planned to come only to select races over the second half of the season.I was enjoying my summer a lot, Gordon said last week. To go from my experience [vacationing] in France and how relaxing that was to the intensity level at Indy, it was a big wakeup call for me.Every week that Im in the car, I get more comfortable, and I get in a place where I feel I can contribute more and ramp my intensity level up along with the competition. You cant just be out of it for six months and jump in and expect that to come naturally -- not for me anyway.With three races left in the regular season, Earnhardt is 21st in the standings and would need to return at Richmond and win to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The Hendrick No. 88 team currently holds the last spot in the team/owners championship playoff system, the same elimination-style points system that includes the same amount of bonus money paid to the driver champion. ' ' '