{"id":7584,"date":"2026-01-06T07:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=7584"},"modified":"2026-01-06T07:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:38:21","slug":"world-table-tennis-championships-returns-to-london-100-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/world-table-tennis-championships-returns-to-london-100-years-on\/","title":{"rendered":"World Table Tennis Championships returns to London 100 years on"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The\u00a0International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) begins a landmark year for the sport, as 2026 marks 100 years since both the organisation&#8217;s foundation and\u00a0the first World Table Tennis Championships, staged in London in 1926.<br><br>A century on, the story comes full circle &#8211; the World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals return to London from 28 April to 10 May 2026, with action across two iconic venues &#8212; the OVO Arena Wembley and the Copper Box Arena.<br><br>The event will bring together 64 men&#8217;s and 64 women&#8217;s teams, uniting the global table tennis family in the very city where it all began.<br><br>&#8220;One hundred years on, we return to London, the birthplace of our Federation and the World Championships,&#8221; said ITTF President Petra S\u00f6rling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In this centenary year, we will honour the pioneers who built our sport, celebrate the champions who inspire us today, and welcome the next generation who will shape the future. I invite everyone across the table tennis family to join us in making 2026 a celebration worthy of this remarkable milestone.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"100 Years of Table Tennis in 100 Seconds\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rw4mcecaUtE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>A Centenary Celebration Across Every Table Tennis Events<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The centenary year will be defined by a calendar that showcases the full breadth of table tennis: elite and emerging stars, Para champions, masters players, and esports.Across 2026, the ITTF&#8217;s world title events will celebrate table tennis at every age, in every category, and in every discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s World Cup Macao | 30 March &#8211; 5 April<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London | 28 April &#8211; 10 May<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>World Masters Championships Gangneung | 5-12 June<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>World Esports Championships | Summer 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>World Table Tennis Para Championships Pattaya | 13-19 November<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>World Youth Championships Manama | 21-28 November<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mixed Team World Cup Chengdu | 29 November &#8211;\u00a06 December<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These events will be complemented by a year-long programme of centenary activations and storytelling, designed to honour the sport&#8217;s history while inspiring the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Honouring 100 Years, Building the Next<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across the season, special moments will celebrate the pioneers, champions, coaches, officials, volunteers and fans who have shaped the last century. To mark this milestone, the ITTF has unveiled a special centenary logo and branding that will be featured throughout 2026, celebrating 100 years of the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From its earliest days, table tennis has been a sport that travels easily, welcomes widely, and connects communities, producing moments that reached far beyond the field of play.<br><br>In its centenary year, the ITTF will celebrate that spirit on a global stage \u2013 from the sport&#8217;s role in opening doors between nations during Ping Pong Diplomacy, to its rise on the Olympic and Paralympic stage, as well as its ongoing global growth and new digital frontiers.<br><br>The ITTF&#8217;s centenary is not only a reflection on history, but a launchpad for the sport&#8217;s next era. It will spotlight the people and places who will define the next 100 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) begins a landmark year for the sport, as 2026 marks 100 years since<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-7584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-table-tennis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf.png",2004,1123,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-300x168.png",300,168,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-768x430.png",640,358,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-1024x574.png",640,359,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-1536x861.png",1536,861,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf.png",2004,1123,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-825x575.png",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf-590x410.png",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/category\/international\/\" rel=\"category tag\">International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ittf.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7587,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions\/7587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}