Table tennis world team championships delayed to early 2021
Other Sports | July 11, 2020 17:18 ISTThe ITTF executive committee met on Friday to discuss the latest situation for international table tennis amid the COVID-19 pandemic
The ITTF executive committee met on Friday to discuss the latest situation for international table tennis amid the COVID-19 pandemic
G Sathiyan, Sharath Kamal and former player Neha Aggarwal are raising funds to help the TT fraternity members amid COVID--19 crisis.
As for its annual general meeting slated for September 28, the ITTF decided that if the World Championships are postponed, the meeting will be conducted online.
Manika, who missed out on India's highest sporting honour last year, is the first woman paddler from her country to win a singles gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
One of the finest and consistent performers in the 80s, Manmeet became the national champion in 1989 when he beat S. Sriram in the men singles final at Hyderabad.
The ITTF has suspended all activities until the end of June, while the 2020 World Table Tennis Team Championships have twice been rescheduled and are now slated to be held between September 27 and October 4.
Riding on the title-winning performance at the Oman Open last month, Sharath has taken a leap of seven spots to claim the 31st position.
The ITTF Executive Committee met late on Wednesday to discuss the latest situation regarding COVID-19, and reached a couple of key outcomes, including an agreement between major stakeholders, in an effort to ensure the 2020 Busan team worlds are eventually held
A highly advanced robot, which Sathiyan imported from Germany, is not only helping the Chennai paddler as a playing partner everyday but also making him get better technically.
The move is relevant to a possible busy schedule in the future as the newly-established World Table Tennis (WTT) plans to have 3 to 4 "Grand Smashes" every year
The organising committee of the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan said in a statement that the event will be postponed to September after already being delayed once before.
The ITTF added that the rankings for April 2020 will be evaluated and released as soon as the Executive Committee passes judgement, which is expected to be no later than April 15. Then the rankings will be frozen until paddlers are back to action.
During Wednesday's video conference where all ITTF staff were in attendance, ITTF CEO Steve Dainton underlined the need for all ITTF staff to stick together and make sacrifices to help the sport out of challenge caused by the pandemic
TTFI President and Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana Dushyant Chautala has also committed to a substantial sum which will be sent by the federation to the PM's Relief Fund in due course of time, the statement added.
Apart from ITTF events suspension, the ITTF Executive Committee also had proposal of new dates for the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships to be announced in the coming week.
The 14th ranked India player, who hails from Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, was slated to return on March 24.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) had tried to rope in Canadian Dejan Papic last year but things did not work out as the latter decided to undergo a knee surgery when he was expected to join the squad.
Among the men players, Sathiyan is the highest ranked Indian with 31st position in the singles rankings. While, Achanta Sharath Kamal (38) are the other three Indians to be ranked in the Top-100.
It is Sharath Kamal's second medal from the prestigious tournament. He also won a bronze with Manika Batra in mixed doubles.
The Indian men's table tennis team's quest for an Olympic berth ended in disappointment after it suffered a 1-3 defeat to Czech Republic in a play-off match of the qualifying event here.
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