The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has put down roots in Singapore. Twelve years after opening its Asia-Pacific office in the Southeast Asian city-state, the body chaired by Sweden’s Petra Sörling announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Sport Singapore (SportSG). It prefigures the opening of the first “Home of Table Tennis” (HoTT). The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the final night of the Singapore Smash 2023, one of the major stages of the world professional circuit (photo above). Launched in 2019, but postponed due to the health crisis, the project initially planned to open a single Table Tennis House. Reactivated last year, it has been modified with a new concept of several HoTTs around the world, each dedicated to a particular area of expertise. Under the terms of the agreement signed last week, Singapore is expected to kick off the movement by hosting the first in the series, within its Singapore Sports Hub. For the rest, the ITTF has issued a call for applications, built around a “focused approach throughout the selection process, seeking to engage with cities that have expressed interest in the initial project and have demonstrated a strong commitment to table tennis.” The body based in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, explains that it will select “the most appropriate host city for each seat based on a range of factors, including infrastructure, accessibility and local support for table tennis.“
