COVID-19 forces ITTF to suspend international events till June 30

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has suspended all its currently planned events and activities that involve international travel until June 30, 2020.

The world table tennis ruling body has also proposed new dates for the Hana Bank 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships, saying a new calendar for it would be announced in the coming week.

Rising from an executive committee meeting, where it discussed the further effects of COVID-19 on the international table tennis event schedule, the ITTF also froze its “ranking lists as of March 2020 and further evaluation of all implications related to the postponement of events, travel restrictions and other complications, with scope for further decisions on potentially necessary adjustments.”

It announced, “adjustments to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games qualification pathways will be worked on after the dates of the Games have been decided.

“The ITTF has also been working hard to manage the 2020 finances with the Executive Committee agreeing to reduce their expenses and senior staff offering to take a salary reduction, as the ITTF looks into other areas to save overall costs.

“The above decisions overwrite those made during the previous ITTF Executive Committee meeting on 16 March 2020, in which today’s second meeting was already set up in order to follow up on the ever-changing situation globally.”

The ITTF said it would hold another follow-up meeting on April 15 to further evaluate the situation.

It added: “The ITTF has intensified communications with the athletes through the support of the ITTF Athletes Commission and will continue to provide further updates on all upcoming decisions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be a survey going to all athletes for their input to ensure that all decisions fully reflect their opinions.”