Image source: ITTF official WeChat account

　　China News Service, September 29. At the ITTF Annual Congress held on September 28, Beijing time, the ITTF officially announced that Durban, South Africa, will have the right to host the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships.

　　The voting results came from the ITTF Annual Congress held on September 28 (Monday), which is the first time in ITTF history to hold the annual Congress online.

　　This is the first time that the World Table Tennis Championships have settled in Africa in 81 years since they were held in Cairo, Egypt in 1939.

At the Congress, Durban, South Africa, defeated another candidate city, Dusseldorf, Germany, by 90 votes (69.77%) to win the right to host the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships. The latter won 39 votes (30.23%).

After successfully hosting the World Table Tennis Championships in 2017, Düsseldorf has been actively striving to host the tournament again.

　　ITTF Chief Vice President Mohamad said: "Congratulations to South Africa and Germany for their bid for the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championship finals for their very high-level bidding proposals. We will continue to introduce new ones starting next year. The World Table Tennis Championships final model, and look forward to the benefits of this reform, to encourage more countries and regions around the world to participate in bidding. This also reflects the growing appeal of table tennis in the international sports world. We will continue to work hard to make this It’s very happy that sports will become more global in the future."

　　At this meeting, ITTF President Thomas Wickert had to be quarantined until Sunday (September 27) because he had close contact with patients with the new crown virus last week. In the end, he received a negative test result. But it has been unable to fly to Qatar to participate in the conference.

　　During the meeting, the ITTF has voted to hold a special congress during the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea.

Affected by the new crown epidemic, the Busan World Table Tennis Championships that should have been held this year have been rescheduled to be held from February 22 to March 1, 2021.

　　In addition, the ITTF Annual Congress is scheduled to be held at the end of 2021, reviewing 2021 and making a summary for the whole year.

With the launch of the World Table Tennis Professional League events and the arrival of the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics, 2021 will be an important year for table tennis.

　　Regarding the successful acquisition of the right to host, Joe Karim, chairman of the South African Table Tennis Committee, said: "I am really ecstatic now. All the sleepless nights and hard work have been rewarded. I want to tell Germany about their plan. The presentation is absolutely great. Given all their experience, I don’t want to take our success completely for granted, and I believe they will come again in the future (hosting the World Table Tennis Championships final)."

　　"I want to thank the table tennis family and the ITTF for giving us the trust and confidence of the team, the city and the government. I believe we will make all those who support and trust us feel very proud. We will definitely live up to our expectations and hold a The final of the World Table Tennis Championships to everyone's satisfaction." He said.

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