DOHA (Qatar): The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships will be held in Houston from November 23-29, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said on Thursday.
Robust protocols are being enforced to create a safe environment to ensure that the event can be held in the United States for the first time ever.
ITTF CEO and WTT Director Steve Dainton said, “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.”
The highly anticipated return of the World Championships, last held in Budapest in 2019, has a global reach of over 500 million fans across TV and digital platforms, and will be welcome news for TT fans worldwide after the previous edition planned for Busan last year, was postponed and eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
China claimed a clean sweep of the medals in Budapest, China’s Ma Long defeated Sweden’s Mattias Falck in the men’s singles final, Liu Shiwen beat compatriot Chen Meng to claim the women’s single title.
The doubles titles went to Wang Chuqin/Ma Long and Sun Yingsha/Wang Manyu who took down the Romanian/Spanish pair of Ionescu/Robles and Japan’s Hayata/Ito respectively. China’s Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen collecting the mixed doubles title after defeating Japan’s Yoshimura/Ishikawa.
The World Championships has a storied history with the first event held in London in 1926.
The 2021 edition will feature 128 players in singles and 64 pairs in each of the doubles competitions competing in a straight knockout format for the right to be crowned world champions.
