India to bid for 2024 World Table Tennis Championships

TTFI secretary M. P. Singh says the time has come for India to host a big-ticket event.

Japanese pair of Maharu Yoshimura, left, and Kasumi Ishikawa in action at the World Table Tennis Championships in Hungary.

Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has decided to bid for the 2024 edition of the biennial World Team Championships.

TTFI secretary M. P. Singh, who was in Hungary for the World Championships which concluded on Sunday, said the time has come for India to host a high-profile event. The last time India hosted a World Championships was way back in 1987.

“We will be bidding for the 2024 edition in which 32 teams will take part,” Singh told PTI .

Team Championships take place on even years and Individual Championships on odd years. The last big ITTF event that was staged in India was in 2012 when Hyderabad hosted the World Junior Championships.

Singh also confirmed that TTFI has recommended three names to the sports ministry for the Arjuna award and they are Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and Madhurika Patkar.

Desai was recommended last year as well but the selection panel picked Manika Batra and G. Sathiyan for the honour following their path-breaking showing in the Commonwealth and Asian Games.