The French Table Tennis Federation has suffered a bitter defeat. It had bet on Montpellier, the city of the Lebrun brothers, to obtain the organization of the 2027 World Championships. It is nevertheless Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was chosen during the General Assembly of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). Gilles Erb, the president of the FFTT, did not hide his disappointment on the social network X. Huge disappointment not to be able to offer these World Championships to French fans and players despite the best record. The conditions of award leave me perplexed regarding the sites selected… I won’t say more " he wrote, accompanying his message with a vomiting emoji. The implication is clear: he believes this choice is not a sporting one.
Huge disappointment not to be able to offer these world championships to French fans and players🏓🇫🇷 despite the best record.
— ERB Gilles (@erb_gilles) May 29, 2025
The conditions of allocation leave me perplexed with regard to the sites selected...
➡️ I won't say more 🤮😤!@ffttofficiel https://t.co/FUcb4SAudl pic.twitter.com/mWTLmhRgSU
He further smoothed things over in the FFTT press release: “ The competition was very tough with the candidatures of China, Brazil, the USA and Kazakhstan. Despite the criteria-based evaluation of our candidature by the ITTF committee which placed us in first position, the 203 delegates unfortunately did not vote for us in the majority, preferring Kazakhstan. political context with the election of the ITTF president has probably not been favorable to us. I want to believe that all the work undertaken will not be in vain and will allow us to reap experience to apply for other editions or other world-class competitions. "France may also be paying for the fact that the 2026 edition is taking place in a neighboring country, in London.
