European Olympic Singles Qualification | 13 May 2015

ITTF & IOC Presidents meet to discuss additional OG gold

Prior to the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, ITTF’s President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT met the International Olympic Committee’s President Dr. Thomas BACH in Lausanne, Switzerland. This was the first official meeting between the two Pre

Prior to the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, ITTF’s President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT met the International Olympic Committee’s President Dr. Thomas BACH in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This was the first official meeting between the two Presidents since Mr WEIKERT stepped into office in September 2014.

The main topics of conversation between the two German officials were  Agenda 2020;  ITTF’s Development Program, which has now made it the largest International Federation with 222 National Association members; How the IOC and the ITTF can work closer together to achieve common goals.

The two Presidents also discussed the possibility of table tennis having mixed doubles or mixed teams as fifth event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in addition to the current lineup of men’s & women’s singles and men’s & women’s teams events.

On this proposal, ITTF’s President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “We have tried in the past to get the mixed doubles or mixed teams in the table tennis Olympic program. My conversations with President BACH were positive, so we hope that we will have a fifth table tennis gold medal added by Tokyo 2020.”