The second edition of the ETTU’s Asia–Europe joint training programme is under way in Gangneung, Korea, where 11 European players are training alongside the national teams of Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei until 12 September.
The camp is hosted by the Korea Table Tennis Association at Gangneung Arena. It is the first time the project brings together four associations: after last season’s exchange with Korea, both the Japan Table Tennis Association and the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association have joined this year, taking the total to 42 participants, including players, coaches, officials and support staff.
The programme started in December 2025, when European players travelled to Jeju Island for a first camp with the Korean team, and continued in April 2026 in Havířov, Czech Republic, where the Korean delegation trained in Europe. Gangneung is the third camp in the series and opens the second cycle, which will close in spring 2027 when the Asian delegations return to Europe. The hosting association will be confirmed shortly.
Players train over ten days, with friendly matches on 5 and 8 September. The upcoming matches on 8 September will be streamed on the official KTTA YouTube channel. The camp will close with a cultural excursion before several players move on to the WTT Youth Contender in Gangneung.
“We are very grateful to the Korea Table Tennis Association for the hospitality and for how easy they have made the work here. The welcome our delegation has had, is something everyone will remember,” said ETTU Vice President Jarosław KOŁODZIEJCZYK. “We are also very pleased that Japan and Chinese Taipei have joined the project this year. The value of this exchange is not only the quality of the practice, although training with Asian players at this level is something that is not so easy to achieve at home. It is also ten days of living, eating and travelling together with players from a completely different table tennis culture. That stays with them long after the camp ends.”
The ETTU delegation is led by Vice President Jarosław KOŁODZIEJCZYK, with the support of Deputy Secretary General Galia DVORAK and ETTU assigned coaches Lara BROICH from Germany and Romualdo MANNA from Italy.
