The city of Busan has been elected host of the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships Finals after the event had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I would like to congratulate Busan and I am already looking forward to the 2024 World Championships Finals ” said Petra Sรถrling. “Congratulations to all the members of the Korean delegation. I am certain they will host a spectacular World Championships that will inspire millions across the world to play and enjoy table tennis.”
Despite having a long tradition of table tennis and iconic athletes this is the first time the Republic of Korea will host the marquee event. It will be a fitting year as 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the introduction of table tennis in Korea.Busan was supposed to host the 2020 World Championships before they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seung-min Ryu IOC Member and President of the Korea Table Tennis Association commented “I wish to thank all associations of the ITTF for their tremendous support for Busan. We will make it a competition centered on players and spectators. We also intend to create a knowledge transfer program during the competition to share our experiences and knowledge with other member associations. By doing so we are intended to raise the bar of our sport.”
The ITTF started the bidding process for the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships Finals from March this year and Busan was elected today by the Member Associations during the 2021 ITTF Annual General Meeting taking place in Houston Texas. The Korean bid was facing a bid from Buenos Aires. Originally five countries Argentina India Korea Portugal and Sweden had submitted bids.
