Table tennis wants to expand its borders. With one objective: to globalise its practice and its public. For the first time in 84 years, the world championships are being held this year on the African continent. They began on Saturday 20 May in Durban, South Africa. The event has not been held in Africa since the 1939 edition in Cairo, Egypt. The 2023 World Championships follow a 2021 edition of the Individual World Championships in Houston, USA. Two successive editions organised outside Europe and Asia, never before seen. Steve Dainton, Director General of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), commented: “Table tennis is a huge sport all around the globe. We want to be one of the biggest sports worldwide, so it’s really important that we take our biggest event, the World Table Tennis Championships, to all parts of the world.” The 2025 World Individual Championships have already been awarded to Doha, Qatar. Steve Dainton makes no secret of the fact that the ITTF wants to continue its globalisation drive by exploring a new region in 2027. His two targets: Latin America and Oceania.
