First ITTF High Performance Camp of 2021 concludes with Olympic qualifications in Doha - International Table Tennis Federation ittf.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ittf.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
2021/03/03. Round of 32 at Doha Contender, Lusail Sports Arena, Doha, Qatar.
Africa’s number one table tennis player, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna is hoping to pick his ticket to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games from the world ranking after his unsuccessful efforts at qualifying for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games through the World Singles Qualification Tournament (WSQT) in Doha, Qatar.
Listed among the 73 men competing at the WSQT and seeded number two behind England’s Liam Pitchford, Aruna yesterday fell to Russian sensation Vladimir Sidorenko 4-2 (11-3, 11-13, 11-6, 9-11, 4-11, 7-11) to miss out from picking the ticket from WSQT.
Despite expressing disappointment over his performance against the Russian who last week edged out Egypt’s Omar Assar from the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender, Aruna is optimistic that with his performance at the WTT Contender Series and Star Contender, his spot in Tokyo is certain.
World Table Tennis Successfully Launches in Doha 03/14/21
The first ever official series of World Table Tennis (WTT) events, the Middle East Hub concluded yesterday with the successful staging of both WTT Contender and WTT Star Contender with Doha showcasing a new era in table tennis and zero COVID-19 cases.
The two historic events took place at the Lusail Sports Arena with WTT working closely with the Qatari authorities to ensure the new WTT style of events could begin during the pandemic, that makes hosting events extremely complicated.
ITTF CEO/WTT Director Steve Dainton said: “I am delighted that, despite the many challenges of a global pandemic, we are able to give our players, fans and supporters across the world the opportunity to enjoy live, competitive international table tennis at the elite level. Our brand new events this year, starting with the Contender series here in Doha, are taking our sport to the next level, for competitor and viewer alike.
International Table Tennis Federation 02 Mar 2021
A total of nine qualification places for the Tokyo Olympics will be up for grabs when the World Singles Qualification Tournament (WSQT) gets underway at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar between 14-17 March 2021.
Hosted and organised by the Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA), under the auspices and authority of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), four spots will be reserved for men while another five set aside for women.
The quotas for the WSQT were confirmed following the latest update of the 2021 calendar and current planning of pending qualification events. Other factors that were also taken into consideration included qualification events that were either pending or completed, the number of players who have already qualified in one or multiple events (singles, teams, mixed doubles) and the total number of table tennis quotas that have been reserved and are available.
China has withdrawn from the World Table Tennis (WTT) Middle East hub because of COVID-19 concerns.
Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) secretary general Qin Zhijian confirmed that the country would not be competing in Doha this month.
A WTT Contender event is scheduled to be held in the Qatari capital from March 3 to 6, followed by the WTT Star Contender tournament from March 8 to 13. We will not be able to send table tennis players to play outside of China until the Olympic Games due to the ongoing pandemic situation worldwide, Qin said. We have been putting in full effort to make it happen because we truly wish to participate in and show support to the first ever WTT event, but now sadly we need to cancel our participation to WTT Middle East Hub.