The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has received a total of five expression of interests from Member Associations to host the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships Finals.
Sweden, Korea Republic, Portugal, Argentina and India have thrown their names into the hat. The high number of competitive bids that ITTF has received to date underlines the global appeal of the World Table Tennis Championships Finals.
Like the last exercise, multiple continents – Europe, South America and Asia have submitted their bids. Portugal and Argentina are seeking to host the storied event for the first time, whilst Korea Republic will be hoping for the event to return to the country after being forced to cancel it in Busan due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Sweden is hoping to host its first World Table Tennis Championships Finals in six years since Halmstad last staged the event in 2018. Previous cities that have hosted the World Table Tennis Championships Finals include Stockholm (1928,1949,1957,1967) and Gothenburg (1985, 1993).
India last hosted the tournament in New Delhi in 1987 and should it be successful in its bid, it will be 37 years before world-class table tennis action returns to the sub-continent.
Following their expressions of interest, the bidding exercise will enter the next phase where ITTF will release the requirements and other resources exclusively to the bidders who have expressed an interest.
Bidders will have to submit their final bids by 30 June 2021. Between 1 July 2021 and 22 August 2021, ITTF Officials and Staff will conduct the evaluation and inspections. Candidates are then invited to present their bids where ITTF members will cast their votes on the award of host for the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships Finals.
Gabor Felegyi, ITTF Competition Director (Interim) said: “We are really excited to have received a record number of interests from these five member associations to host the World Table Tennis Championships. This highlights the stature of the tournament as well as the economic benefits it brings to their country. We look forward to evaluating their respective bids as the process heads into its next phase.”
Held since 1926 in London, the World Table Tennis Championships holds the greatest historical significance and highest global interest among players, fans, media and partners. It was last held in Budapest in 2019 and will make its return to Houston (United States) this year followed by Chengdu (China) in 2022.
In a revamped format, the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston 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.