2015 World Table Tennis Championships Becomes Most Followed Table Tennis Event In History

The Qoros 2015 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships held in Suzhou, China on 26 April – 3 May 2015 has been officially announced as the most followed table tennis event in history.

The world-s biggest table tennis event was followed by an estimated 450 million people across the globe, which is a record for a table tennis event.

330 million unique people watched the event on their TV s in 170 countries across the world.

In China alone, 252 million tuned into the ITTF World Championships, which means that 1 in 5 people in China watched the event on TV during the 50 hours of live coverage on CCTV-5 and 150 hours of coverage on other Chinese networks.

Data provided by CSM Media research-KantarSport shows that the Men-s Singles Final averaged over 16 million viewers every minute, and 40 million in total for what is now the fourth most-watched sports event of the year in China.

Team Japan embrase after making the mixed doubles final. Photo credit: Remy Gros

Managing Director of Media & Sports Research at CSM Media research-KantarSport Pierre JUSTO stated: “Such TV audience numbers clearly show clearly that table tennis remains a very powerful sport on TV in China and is able to generate numbers as big as football or basketball.”

“Throughout the rest of the world, the TV coverage of the World Championships was also on the rise. There was more TV news about the event in Germany than before, and the broadcast coverage was also larger in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and many other countries, ensuring more viewers than ever before” concluded Mr JUSTO.

In addition to record TV ratings, the event also surged on all of the ITTF’s other platforms.

ITTF.com’s servers were pushed to the limit, as 10 million unique people visited the official website of the ITTF. During the major matches, there were a staggering 20,000 people per second landing on the front page, eager to keep up with the live results.

ITTF’s free online streaming platform ITTF.com/itTV, which for the first time streamed eight tables live, had 1 million unique viewers watching the world’s best table tennis players live and on demand.

Nearly 3 million people saw content on ITTF’s Facebook page (Facebook.com/ITTFWorld), which boosted the fan base to 200,000.

The views on ITTF YouTube channel nearly doubled from a year ago, with 7 million people from 231 countries tuning into YouTube.com/ITTFChannel to watch content from Suzhou.

ITTF Reaches 1,000,000 Social Media Fans

The conversation about the World Championships went viral through twitter (@ITTFWorld) and instagram(@ITTFWorld), with 30,000 mentions of the official hashtag #ITTFWorlds2015.

The 1,000 accredited press in Suzhou spread the word about the event through the written press, as over 11,000 articles were written about the Championships, reaching hundreds of millions of people.

All these factors together brought the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships to more people than any table tennis event ever before.

These figures will be the target to be beaten at next year’s ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 28 February to 6 March 2016.

#ITTFWorlds2015 Media Stats:

Countries that broadcasted the event live on TV: 170

CCTV viewers: 252 million

World wide TV viewers: 330 million

ITTF.com unique visitors over 8 days: 10 million

itTV unique viewers over 8 days (live and on demand) :1 million

440 matches on itTV

Countries that watched itTV: 179

People who saw content on ITTF’s Facebook:3,000,000

YouTube views: 7 million

Countries that watched content on YouTube: 231

Minutes watched on YouTube: 25 million

Accredited media: 1,000

Media articles: 11,000

Ma Long is the 2015 Men’s World Table Tennis Champion!

The 53rd World Championships concluded at the Suzhou International Expo Centre tonight, with the remaining two titles, Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles World titles being decided.

World number one MA Long (CHN) became the Men’s World Champion for the first time, in front of the capacity crowd in Suzhou.

With this being his fourth time participation at world championships, MA played his first World Championships Men’s Singles gold medal stage tonight in Suzhou. His best result at past world championships was in the semifinals, where he met the now retired WANG Hao (CHN) on all three occasions.

The 26 year old faced compatriot FANG Bo who eliminated hot favorites XU Xin (CHN) as well as two-time defending and Olympic champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) en route to the finals.

Determined to get hold of the St. Bride Vase, MA was all fired up to dominate the court in front of the home crowd. Despite all of FANG’s efforts to turn the situation in his favour, MA won 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-13, 11-4) to claim the title that has eluded the world number one all these years.

Ma Long (CHN) .QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN, photo credit ITTF Media

“It is like a dream come true. Having losing in the semifinals at the three world championships previously, honestly I have a lot of pressure to earn this title. At the end of the day I think these was worth it.” shared the newly crowned champion.

In the other gold medal match of the night, DING Ning (CHN), who reclaimed her Women’s Singles title last night in the most dramatic fashion, put up a good fight with partner LI Xiaoxia (CHN) in the Women’s Doubles gold medal match.

Facing teammates LIU Shiwen and ZHU Yuling, DING/LI pulled off amazing rallies during the match to take the lead early in the match despite DING having difficulty moving around with her sprained ankle. LIU/ZHU, equally determined to take home the title, trailed closely behind in the match.

LIU/ZHU eventually prevailed 4-3 (8-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-8) to emerge victorious to claim the title. This defeat means that DING Ning has now played four Women’s Doubles finals in a row and have lost them all!

LIU who lost her women’s singles title against DING the night before, expressed “I was very upset after the loss last night. While I know I only have to accept it. I’d like to thank my coach, teammates and friends for their support.”

The 24 year old added “Since I had doubles to play today, I knew I had to be mentally tough. I cherish this match because I’ve never won the championship in single’s event before and I knew I had to give it my best effort tonight.”

Other than the two World Championship titles that was won, Japan’s 14 year old sensation Mima ITO won the Qoros Newcomer award for her outstanding performance at the Qoros 2015 World Championships. She battled her way to the quarterfinals on her debut here in Suzhou.

XU Xin and ZHANG Jike, Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships photo credit ITTF Media

Gold Medalists at the Qoros 2015 World Championships:

Men’s Singles: MA Long (CHN)
Women’s Singles: DING Ning (CHN)
Men’s Doubles: ZHANG Jike / XU Xin (CHN)
Women’s Doubles: LIU Shiwen / ZHU Yuling (CHN)
Mixed Doubles: XU Xin (CHN) / YANG Haeun (KOR)

#ITTFWorlds2015 Statistics:

Total unique viewership on CCTV yesterday (2 May 2015): 99,027,000 which is the 6th highest rating sports show on CCTV in 2015

Total viewership between 27 April – 2 May: 223,332,000

Total unique people have seen content on ITTF’s facebook page between 26 April – 2 May: 2,373,752

Total unique people who have visited ITTF’s website between 26 April – 2 May: 8,560,318

With the perfect closing of the Qoros 2015 World Team Table Tennis Championships, the 54th edition of the World Championships will be staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 201

DING Claims Second Women’s Singles Gold In Dramatic Fashion Despite Injury

China’s DING Ning pulled off the most dramatic victories in table tennis history to become the women’s singles world champion.

DING collapsed on the floor when the score was 0-2 in the 7th game, and everyone feared that her title challenge was over. DING managed to get back to her feet and fight back to record a famous victory.

Ding Ning (CHN) QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships Winner. photo credit ITTF Media

She eventually played a brilliantly strategized game to come back to win the decider 11-8 to reclaim her crown. DING first claimed her world championship title at the 2011 World Championships in Rotterdam.

The 24 year old who managed to make her comeback from 0-1 down to lead 3-1 against her compatriot LIU Shiwen, injured her ankle at the beginning of the 7th game. After taking her medical timeout, she decided to continue with the match even though she could barely walk.

The severity of the injury was shown, as DING was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. The latest reports show that there is no break and she is going to be ok, but she is in major doubt for tomorrow’s women’s doubles semi final.

DING is due to play in the Women’s Doubles event with grand slam winner LI Xiaoxia (CHN), expressed after victory, “I will need to have my injury examined to decide if I will be playing in the Women’s Doubles semifinals tomorrow morning.”

Ding Ning (CHN) QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships Winner. photo credit ITTF Media

After the dramatic finals match, DING shared “It was like a dream to me to have won this title, it especially felt so in the last game when I sprained my ankle when I was 0-2 points down.”

“The turning point was really at the second game when I was trailing 2 points behind at 8-10, but I managed to save both game points and eventually took that game 15-13. I believe the momentum of the game changed at that point of time.”

China & Korea Join Forces to Become Mixed Doubles World Champions

China’s XU Xin and Korea’s YANG Haeun are the newly crowned mixed doubles champions at the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, making them the first international mixed doubles pair to be crowned since 1966.

Even though this was their first partnership, the dynamic duo was able to work well together to defeat Japanese pairing of Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA 4-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-4, 11-6) to claim the title.

After the historic victory, XU who was knocked out from the Men’s Singles event by his colleague FANG Bo after sustaining a shoulder injury, shared that “the injury definitely have affected my play. I am glad that our partnership worked out well despite my injury. I am neither a hero, nor a warrior, but I made sure that I give my best. As long as that is the case, I think the outcome matters less compared to the process and efforts.

“This victory is a result of the combined efforts by me and my partner, her performance has been very stable since our first match here in Suzhou, and she has improved a lot to help us win against the Japanese in the finals,” the world number two added.

China’s XU Xin and Korea’s YANG Haeun kissing the Heydusek Cup

Delighted about her first ever World Championship title, YANG expressed that “I am really excited that we could win the title. It’s definitely an invaluable experience for me, and have learnt a lot from this partnership with XU Xin, not just in techniques, but also in terms of mental strength.”

Despite losing to the Chinese/Korean pair, it was still a historic moment for the Japanese team, being the first mixed doubles finalists from the land of the rising sun since 1977.

In the Women’s Singles, 14 year old Mima ITO (JPN) had the tournament of her career, making it to the Quarterfinals on her debut world championships.

After overcoming Ukraine’s Tetyana BILENKO 4-1, she played her best match in Suzhou to challenge the Chinese supremacy, taking 2 games off grand slam winner LI Xiaoxia. The match went in favour of the defending champion eventually, as LI made an amazing comeback from 0-2 to win 4-2 (9-11, 14-16, 11-2, 13-11, 11-2) to join her other three Chinese team mates DING Ning, LIU Shiwen and MU Zi, who became the first player in the modern era to make the semi finals from qualification.

More action at the World Championships resume tomorrow with the gold medal matches for the Women’s Singles and Men’s Doubles taking place here in Suzhou.

Japan Makes 1st World Championships Mixed Double Final Since 1977

The fifth day of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships concluded with the Japanese mixed doubles duo Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA becomingJapan’s first mixed doubles finalists since 1977.

The Japanese pair ended the defending championsKIM Jong and KIM Hyok Bong from North Korea to becomehopes of defending their title they won two years ago in Paris 4-2 (11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4) to guarantee at least a silver medal for Japan in Suzhou.

ISHIKAWA and YOSHIMURA will face mixed nations pair XU Xin (CHN) and YANG Haeun (KOR) tomorrow night in the final battle for the title.

The victory boosted the Japanese team spirit after suffering two days of upsets and defeats since the commencement of the main draws, a confident ISHIKAWA shared: “Our goal is to perform our own ability, and we have confidence to play in our own level.”

While being successful in the mixed doubles event, number five seed ISHIKAWA fell in the hands of the unseeded MU Zi from the host country, being outclassed 0-4 (7-11, 10-12, 10-12, 4-11) in the round of 32.

Team Japan embrase after making the mixed doubles final. Photo credit: Remy Gros

ISHIKAWA was not the only defeat suffered by the Japanese team, her colleagues in the men’s doubles, Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA, joined her on the Japanese casualty list of the day.

MORIZONO and OSHIMA came so close to the biggest upset in Suzhou against the tournament hot favorites, XU Xin and ZHANG Jike (CHN). Despite having two match points, ZHANG & XU were too good in the end winning 4-3 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10) to advance to the semifinals of the Men’s Doubles event.

Jun MIZUTANI (JPN), on the other hand, narrowly escape elimination scares from JUNG Youngsik (KOR), to keep the Japanese singles dream alive in Suzhou. The pair engaged in an epic 7-games thriller, with MIZUTANI claiming victory 4-3 (4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9, 13-11).

In the other Men’s Singles round of 32 matches, Patrick FRANZISKA (GER) and Timo BOLL (GER) faced Portugal’s Marcos FREITAS and Joao MONTEIRO respectively to spark off an all-European battle.

56th in the world, FRANZISKA pulled off an amazing performance to upset FREITAS, a player he has never won a game against before 4-1 (13-11, 11-7, 12-10, 5-11, 11-6) to continue his quest for gold.

BOLL however faced tough challenge from FREITAS’s teammate MONTEIRO on his way to the round of 16. The 7th ranked German was pushed into a full-length battle against MONTEIRO. The 34 year old eventually won 4-3 (11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 14-12, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10).

Tomorrow sees the round of 16 of the men’s and women’s singles and the mixed doubles final.

ITTF & ATTU Sign Affiliation Agreement

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) today signed an affiliation agreement to bring the ATTU under the ITTF’s umbrella.

The historic affiliation was signed during the ITTF Board of Directors meeting, which was held during the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou, China.

Following the signing, ITTF’s President Mr Thomas WEIKERT stated: “With this morning’s signing with the Asian Table Tennis Union at the ITTF Board of Director’s Meeting, I believe this will signal a new era of co-operation not only between ITTF and ATTU, but also personally between Mr CAI Zhenhua and myself, and I look forward to working closely with both ATTU and Mr CAI for the development of table tennis worldwide.”

Recently, the ITTF created a new structure to formally recognize the Continental Federations within it’s structure, which allows for greater co-operation in all areas, particularly in marketing and development for the benefit of global table tennis.

ITTF’s President Thomas WEIKERT & ATTU President Mr CAI after the historic agreement.

Other decisions from the Board of Director meeting were:

*From 1 October 2016 (after Olympics and Paralympics) coaches will have the opportunity to coach between points. Germany tested this at their league matches with positive results and proposed it to the BOD. After some detailed debate was passed.

*Currently players under 15 changing nationalities must wait 3 years to represent their new country. In a proposal by the Swiss Federation, to be in line with current people movement and migration, this was reduced to one year as long as they have not represented the previous country. This was passed unanimously in a spirit of support for our youth.

*Currently if a player-pair and coach disagree on a timeout the player has precedence in individual events and the coach in team events. ITTF Rules Committee proposed that the player has precedence in all situations, however surprisingly the Athletes Commission spoke against the motion and so the meeting supported the athletes and also voted against.

Ovtcharov & Fukuhara Crash Out Of ITTF World Table Tennis Championships

The fourth day of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships ended, in dramatic fashion, with two of the biggest names of in table tennis crashing out of the competition in the second round.

World ranked six, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), one of the favourites for the title suffered a surprise 3-4 (11-6,11-9,4-11,8-11,11-6,3-11,11-6) defeat against the number 36th seed LEE Sangsu (KOR), bidding goodbye to his World Championship title.

MARCOS FREITAS, 2015 ITTF World Championships. photo credit ITTF Media

After his loss, OVTCHAROV, who beat the World and Olympic champion ZHANG Jike at the 2014 World Team Championships was devastated after the lost: “Of course I am extremely disappointed, I prepared every second for this event and to be knocked out in the second round is disappointing for me. He surprised me today to be so fast and aggressive from the very beginning. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was most surprised by his level. It was tough for me to get the flow and come back after trailing behind 0-2, 2-3 in the match.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, LEE was celebrating his best ever win: “I believed. I believed. I believed I could win. So happy that I did to record the biggest win of my career against one the best players in the world.”

In the Women’s Singles event, number eight seeded Japanese Superstar Ai FUKUHARA became the biggest casualty after losing to Tetyana BILENKO (UKR), 55 positions after her on the ITTF World Rankings.

FUKUHARA was unable to keep up to the momentum of her opponent, losing 2-4 (11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 10-12) to the 31 year old Ukrainian.

“I am sad about my overall performance, I should have been more aggressive. I lost points and became a little bit passive with my tactics. I can’t believe my singles event is over so quickly” shared FUKUHARA after her match.

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, 2015 ITTF World Championships, photo credit ITTF Media

The 26 year old Japanese was not the only loss suffered by the Japanese team. Sayaka HIRANO who part of the Japanese team that won the silver meal at the London 2012 Olympics with FUKUHARA, was shocked by unseeded qualifier Hana MATELOVA from Czech Republic.

In the mixed doubles’ quarterfinals, defending champions KIM Hyok Bong and KIM Jong from North Korea overcame the Chinese pairing of WU Yang and YAN An in a thrilling 7 set encounter 5-11,11-8,11-8,4-11,11-6,7-11,11-7. The number one seeds now face the Japanese due of Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA, who were also successful in their quarter final clash.

More excitement can be expected tomorrow in Suzhou, with the quarterfinals of the doubles events getting underway and more singles action.

ITTF Becomes Largest International Federation

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is now the largest International Federation, with 222 National Associations.

Sao Tome & Principe and South Sudan were accepted into the ITTF family today at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) to overtake Volleyball as the largest International Federation.

At this historic moment, the ITTF President Mr Thomas Weikert stated “As the ITTF President I am very proud that ITTF has achieved the number one status in terms of membership as our goal is not just to be among the top five sports overall, but also within each area. This is then another milestone on the path to achieve this.”

The newest additions is a result of the ITTF’s Development Program’s objective to grow national associations to have table tennis played in every corner of the globe.

The ITTF Development Program, which was initiated in 1999, has now added 42 new National Associations, with new addition of 2-3 new members per year.

Now Table Tennis will be played on even more tables around the world.

Quantity is not what the ITTF is solely looking at; the Program offers support for member associations around the world support in terms of equipment, coach training, player training and more to assist them in developing and growing in a sustainable way.

With the inclusion of Sao Tome & Principe and South Sudan, the ITTF will only have 4 more countries, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Bahamas, remaining in the Olympic family to integrate in order to reach its final goal of having a National Association in every country possible.

The ITTF is currently in contact with the Olympic Committees of these remaining countries, aiming to achieve full inclusion of all members of the Olympic family to the table tennis family.

The ITTF AGM was held in conjunction with the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships currently being held in Suzhou, China. Click here: http://bit.ly/15WTTC for more information on the world’s biggest table tennis event.

Toriola, Quadri Bow Out In First Round, As Tie Against World Champion Excites Oshonaike

Despite the exit of Segun Toriola and Aruna Quadri in the first round of the men’s singles at the ongoing ITTF World Championship, Olufunke Oshonaike has described the experience in China as the best by a Nigerian team in an individual world championships.

Toriola in his usual style fought well against Chinese’s Sheng-Sheng Huang recovering from 3-0 down to level up at 3-3 and finally surrendering the seventh game to bow out gallantly from the tournament.

But the biggest shock for Nigeria was the early exit of ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri who was beaten 4-1 by India’s Soumyajit Ghosh in the first round of the men’s singles.

The defeat to Quadri could not even be comprehended by the Nigerian who blamed his loss to ill-luck against the Indian.

But the Indian knew the importance of the win saying that “I am happy beating Aruna in a big stage like the world championships.”

Even as Oshonaike marked her birthday on Tuesday, she probally enjoyed herself in China despite losing 4-0 to world number, China’s Ning Ding.

Funke Oshonaike vs Ning Ding
QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,

Oshonaike described the encounter as the best moment in her career especially playing against the world number one. “I think I just had fun during the match and for me I am not too happy that I was drawn against Ning but it is indeed a rare privilege to play a player of her status. I am fulfilled with my performance in China because I made the first round for the first time since I have been taking part in the world championship,” she said.

Also the partnership between Oshonaike and Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou proved worthy as they bundled out Africa’s women’s doubles champion, Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawatly 4-1 in the first round of the women’s doubles event.

It is indeed a United States of Africa in Suzhou, China.

Main Draw About To Begin At ITTF World Championships

The qualification rounds of the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships concluded today, 27 April, to finalise all 128 positions in the main draws for the Men’s and Women’s Singles as well as the Men’s and Women’s Doubles events.

The only unseeded player from the Chinese team, MU Zi, cruised pass the both days of qualifications without dropping a single game, to join the rest of her teammates in the main draw in front of her home crowd.

Funke Oshonaike. QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships,26 Apr 2015 – 03 May 2015, Suzhou, CHN photo credit ITTF Media

Nigeria’s Olufunke OSHONAIKE had the crowd on their feet with her amazing performances which saw her advance to the Women’s Singles main draw. As a reward the Nigerian mother of two will play against top seeded DING Ning (CHN) tomorrow morning in the first round of the main draw.

ZHANG Jike (CHN) will start his quest to win his third World Championships title in a row against Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU and Li Xiaoxia starts her title defense against HWANG Jina (KOR).

The first round of the mixed doubles event already got underway today as well in the evening, with capacity crowd cheering on the players in the action packed hall.

The host nation’s mixed doubles pair of WU Yang / YAN An survived an elimination scare when 68th seeded Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (LTU) & Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC (SRB) came back from 0-2 down to tie at 3-3, and trailing tightly behind. WU / YAN eventually escaped narrowly to make it to the next round.

KARAKASEVIC was understandably disappointed to come so close to the biggest upset of the event so far: “At 4-4 and 5-5 in the seventh game, if we could have gained a lead then I think they would have been afraid but we didn’t and that’s sport; at the moment I’m really disappointed, I think this was our big chance to win a medal at the World Championships!”

More action will begin tomorrow morning with ALL 8 tables streaming LIVE on ITTF.com/itTV and broadcast in 169 countries around the world. Live scoring can also be followed on the go at ITTF.com/Mobile!

Nigeria’s Oshodi Makes Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation Board

NTTF President, Wahid Oshodi (back row) with board of directors of Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation (CTTF) in Suzhou, China on Monday

For his efforts at reviving the fortune of table tennis and the crucial role Nigeria has played, the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation (CTTF) yesterday at its election held in Suzhou, China, elected President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi into its board of directors.

As the second African on the board, Oshodi, who is also the Lagos State Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, has joined South Africa’s Audrina Mcdonald, who is the treasurer.

The board, which is the highest ruling body administering table tennis in Commonwealth nations is made up of 12 member chaired by England’s Alan Ransome.

Aside Nigeria and South Africa, other nations in the board include, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, Barbados, Scotland, Cyprus, Singapore and India.

Also at the Annual General Meeting of board, India has been named as the host of this year’s Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship and it will hold in Gujrat from October 27 to November 1.

Oshodi is also a member of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) nomination committee. For Oshodi, this election has also confirmed the relevance of Nigeria among the Commonwealth nations and this is another call to serve.

Meanwhile, ITTF has commended Nigeria for the giant stride the country has made in recent times especially in their efforts to promote the game globally.

The 2015 Lagos Open was viewed globally by 105m people across the globe.

ITTF Sends Condolences From Suzhou To Nepal

An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Nepal yesterday night on Saturday 25 April 2015, the day before the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships is due to start.

It was difficult for the Nepalese team competing in Suzhou on their first day of competition, as they are desperate to hear from home to find out the situation back there, while trying to focus on their first day of competition at the World Championships.

ITTF President Mr Thomas WEIKERT spoke with members of the Nepalese team in the morning to send his condolences after the players played their first match of the day.

Mr WEIKERT shared “It’s really a tragic situation, I spoke with the Nepalese girls competing here today to send my condolences. I saw the pictures on television, and it was really devastating.”

“Of course the ITTF family have our hearts with the Nepalese table tennis players, and the whole nation as well. We will look into this, and see how ITTF can help them. Nepal is not a very rich country, and does not have much equipment and resources, we will definitely see how we can support them.”

After losing her first Women’s Doubles match in the qualification stage with teammate Nabita SHRESTHA, Nepal’s Elina MAHARJAN broke into tears, “It’s hard to play, I just pray that everyone is safe. Some people I know are hurt, and some friends are dead. It’s very painful.”

ITTF Sends Condolences from Suzhou to Nepal, photo credit ITTF Media

23-year-old SHRESTHA added “It affected me, of course, because now there are 72 hours of critical condition. There could be another earthquake strike at any time and my parents and my family are staying (outside in a tent), so it is quite difficult. My old house got destructed, but thank God nobody was sitting around there.”

Chair of the ITTF Athletes’ Commission, Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) sent a message on behalf of all the world’s table tennis players “I heard that one of the Nepalese team member back home lost some of his family members to the disaster, and we understand how devastating this whole situation is to him, the team and their country. On behalf of all the players competing here in Suzhou, and table tennis players all around the world, I would like to show our support and send them our condolences.”

Whilst the entire table tennis world was thinking about our friends in Nepal, the action got underway in the qualification rounds in Suzhou. 32 positions were on offer in the main draw were hotly contested from the players representing 100 countries. From Senegal to Sudan, check out the winners and losers from day one here: http://bit.ly/1HH5iGI.