by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Now for their next major venture, the 2018 World Team Championships to be staged from Saturday 29th April to Saturday 6th May; they have much more time; for the Halmstad organisers it must seem like an eternity.

They can take life slowly, comfortably, no need to panic but beware!

Make no mistake time travels fast and the clock is ticking; today, Thursday 15th December, marks 500 days to go until the first ball is struck in anger at the 2018 World Team Championships.

It will be the seventh time that Sweden has hosted a World Championships but it will be the first time under the modern day format when individual and team events are separate; also it will be the first time that Halmstad has played host.

A founder member of the International Table Tennis Federation; Stockholm hosted the second edition of the tournament in 1928. Notably it was the first time that the Women’s Doubles event was held at a World Championships but there was no Women’s Team competition; that did not happen until 1933 in Paris.

Later in 1949, 1957 and 1967 Stockholm was again the host before in 1985 and 1993, the city of Gothenburg, like Halmstad on the west coast of Sweden, welcomed the world.

Now in 500 days it will be welcome once again to Sweden and for many, a welcome return to Halmstad.