World Table Tennis Championships confirmed for Houston from Nov 23

The World Table Tennis Championships will be held as per schedule from November 23 to 29 in Houston, USA, the game's governing body ITTF has said.

"After positive weeks of discussions with the Harris County Sports Authority, USATT and USOPC, the decision was to go ahead.

Necessary adjustments will be put in place to cater for the current ongoing worldwide pandemic; thus, ensuring the event will be staged successfully," ITTF said in a statememt on Tuesday.

The decision was made at a meeting of the ITTF executive committee on April 11. ITTF CEO Mr. Steve Dainton said: "It's great news to confirm the 2021 event.

After the 2020 World Championships event in Busan, Korea, was cancelled, it was very important to find solutions for the 2021 event. "Since Houston, USA, was awarded the event the whole table tennis world has been excited to have the event for the first time in the United States of America."

Among other decisions, ITTF also confirmed "the attendance of operational staff required to assist in administering the table tennis competition at the Olympic Games. "...in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of officials will be significantly reduced.

Furthermore, in line with the IOC request and recommendation, the ITTF Executive Committee confirmed there will be no accompanying guests accredited."

The ITTF Executive Committee also approved the new ITTF Team and Youth rankings. The regulations, along with the first ranking lists will be published in the coming days. The next online Executive Committee Meeting will be held on May 16 this year.