05/10/2012       

Title sponsors of the 2011 World Championships and of the current World Tour, the GAC Group will be the sponsor for the World Team Cup in 2013.

The event will be staged in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the home of the company; the full name being the Guangzhou Automobile Company.

Furthermore, the city of Guangzhou is no stranger whatsoever to big events; notably the city hosted the Evergrande Real Estate World Team Championships in 2008 and more recently in 2010 the Asian Games, a multi-sport event second only to the Olympic Games and a gathering in which the GAC Group was a major sponsor.

First Time
It will be the first time that the event has been staged in China, the country that has dominated the competition since its inauguration in 1990.

The Japanese city of Hokkaido was the home for the first staging of the tournament, the following year, 1991, the Spanish city of Barcelona was the home with a three year break ensuing, before Nīmes in France hosted proceedings in 1994.

Test Event
One year later the tournament moved to the United States with Atlanta being the home; the event being organised as a test event for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Returned to International Calendar
A gap of eleven years ensued before the tournament returned to the international calendar.

In 2007, the German city of Magdeburg staged the event with a policy of holding the competition every two years being introduced.

Alternate Years
Furthermore, the decision was taken to host the event in the year alternate to the World Team Championships.

Thus in 2008 the World Team Championships were staged in Guangzhou, the World Team Cup was held the following year in the Austrian city of Linz.

Exception
However, the was an exception; as a result of a special request made by the United Arab Emirates Table Tennis Association, the World Team Cup Classic was held in 2010 in Dubai.

Thus with the event returning to Magdeburg in 2011, the most recent edition, the competition was staged in three consecutive years.

Proposed Dates
The proposed dates for the GAC Group World Team Cup in Guangzhou are Thursday 28th to Sunday 31st March 2013.