December 22nd – The International Table Tennis Federation officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships. The event was originally scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea, in March 2020. It has been postponed three times due to the impact of the epidemic.
Under the chairmanship of Thomas Victor, President of the International Table Tennis Federation, the Executive Committee of the International Table Tennis Federation met on Monday on the 21st to discuss the situation related to the past year and important plans for the coming year.
The International Table Tennis Federation said that although this was the most difficult year in decades, the International Table Tennis Federation has achieved great results from the restart of the series held in China.
In addition, Petra Solin, the finance vice president of the International Table Tennis Federation, and Michael Brown, chief financial officer, reported that the International Table Tennis Federation may not have financial losses in 2020 due to several events at the end of the year and the positive and cautious actions taken throughout the year.
Steve Denton, CEO of the International Table Tennis Federation, said that the successful conclusion of the restart of the event series and the successful hosting of the European Champions League by the European Table Tennis Federation have made the International Table Tennis Federation know how to host the event in the face of the epidemic.
In addition, due to the increasing number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Korea in recent days, the Executive Committee of the International Table Tennis Federation, together with representatives of various continental associations, decided to cancel the 2020 International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships. Earlier, Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korean Table Tennis Association, received a notice from the South Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency that large-scale international sports events would not be allowed in the coming months.
The team World Table Tennis Championships, originally scheduled for March 2020, in Busan, South Korea, have been postponed three times due to the impact of the epidemic. The International Table Tennis Federation originally hoped that the event could be held in February 2021. Due to the deteriorating epidemic situation in South Korea and the world, this difficult decision has been made to this day.
The 2021 event calendar also includes the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, so it is impossible to postpone the event for a fourth time. The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships will be held after the Olympic Games. Details of the event are being finalized and will be announced in January next year.
In addition, the Executive Committee adopted the 2021 World Rankings Program proposed by the International Table Tennis Federation Working Group on World Rankings. The ranking documents will be released later this week along with the calendar of events leading up to the 2021 Olympics. Under the new world ranking rules, WTT Grand Slam will have the same ranking points as the Olympic Games and the World Table Tennis Championships.
