At the meeting of the ITTF Executive Committee on Sunday 11th April the new dates of Tuesday 23rd to Monday 29th November were decided for the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships; the tournament as originally planned will be held in Houston USA.
After positive weeks of discussions with the Harris County Sports Authority USATT and USOPC the decision was to go ahead. Necessary adjustments will be put in place to cater for the current ongoing worldwide pandemic; thus ensuring the event will be staged successfully.
“It’s great news to confirm the 2021 event. After the 2020 World Championships event in Busan Korea was cancelled it was very important to find solutions for the 2021 event. Since Houston USA was awarded the event the whole table tennis world has been excited to have the event for the first time in the United States of America ” ITTF CEO Steve Dainton stated.
Another important decision the ITTF Executive Committee took was to confirm the attendance of operational staff required to assist in administering the table tennis competition at the Olympic Games. Meeting the IOC Sports Department suggestion and in view of the Covid-19 pandemic the number of officials will be significantly reduced. Furthermore in line with the IOC request and recommendation the ITTF Executive Committee confirmed there will be no accompanying guests accredited.
After months of development and negotiations proposed by the ITTF World Ranking Working Group the ITTF Executive Committee approved the new ITTF Team and Youth rankings. The regulations along with the first ranking lists will be published in the coming days.
Also the ITTF Executive Committee recognized the excellent work of Dr. Shiro Matsuo for his long service to the ITTF Sports Science and Medical Committee as Chief Anti-Doping; all wished him the best of luck in his retirement.
