ITTF suspends all events, activities up until July end amid COVID-19 outbreak

SINGAPORE: The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Saturday announced to extend the current suspension of all ITTF events and activities up until the end of July, while hoping for a restart in August.

The world table tennis governing body held its Executive Committee meeting on Friday and reached several outcomes after discussing the latest situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The situation is being monitored closely for an eventual restart of ITTF events in August 2020," the ITTF said in a statement on its website.

Besides the extension of suspension, the governing body also decided to cancel all World Veterans Tour (WVT) and Table Tennis X (TTX) events for the remainder of 2020, promised to discuss the status of the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships in June and asked its management to find ways to reduce overall operation costs.

Earlier in April, the ITTF had cancelled the Australian Open and the South Korean Open. The Australian Open, which is a World Tour Platinum event, had been scheduled for June 23 to 28, while the South Korean Open was to take place between June 16 and 21.

The ITTF Executive Committee will now meet again on June 2 and thereafter further updates on all upcoming decisions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic will be provided, ITTF said. IANS