China News Service, December 22. On the 22nd, Beijing time, the ITTF officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championship.

The event was originally scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea in March 2020, but has been postponed three times due to the epidemic.

　　Under the chairmanship of ITTF President Thomas Wickert, the ITTF Executive Committee held a meeting on Monday 21st to discuss the situation related to the past year and important plans for the coming year.

　　The ITTF stated that even though this is the most difficult year in decades, ITTF has achieved great gains from the restart of the tournament series held in China.

In addition, the ITTF Finance Vice Chairman Petra Soling and the Chief Financial Officer Michael Brown submitted a report revealing that due to several events at the end of the year and the active and cautious actions taken throughout the year, the ITTF may be in 2020 There will be no financial loss in the year.

　　ITTF CEO Steve Denton said that the successful conclusion of the restart event series and the successful hosting of the UEFA Champions League have already let ITTF know how to host events under the epidemic.

　　In addition, due to the increasing number of confirmed cases of the new crown virus in South Korea in recent days, the ITTF Executive Committee and representatives of various intercontinental associations decided to cancel the 2020 ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championship.

Earlier, Ryu Seung-min, chairman of the Korean Table Tennis Association, received a notice from the Korean Agency for Disease Control and Prevention, stating that major international sports events would not be allowed in the next few months.

　　The World Table Tennis Championships, originally scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea in March 2020, has been postponed three times due to the impact of the epidemic.

The ITTF originally hoped that the tournament could be held in February 2021. Due to the deteriorating epidemic situation in Korea and the world, it has made this difficult decision today.

　　The 2021 event calendar also includes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, so the event cannot be postponed for the fourth time.

The 2021 World Table Tennis Championships will be held after the Olympics. The finalization of the details of this event is in progress and will be announced in January next year.

　　In addition, the Executive Committee approved the 2021 world ranking program proposed by the ITTF World Ranking Working Group.

The ranking file will be announced later this week along with the calendar of events before the 2021 Olympics.

Under the new world ranking rules, WTT Grand Slam ranking points will be the same as the Olympic Games and World Table Tennis Championships.

(Finish)