Seoul, March 30 (IANS) The table tennis world team championships have been postponed again after ITTF, the sport’s governing body, suspended all planned international events until June 30 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The world team championships in Busan, South Korea, had already been delayed from May 22-29 to June 21-28, reports Xinhua news agency.
The ITTF met on the weekend to make the postponement decision and it will propose new dates this week.
The ITTF said it was freezing rankings lists as of this month and would consider adjustments to qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which have been postponed to next year.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Executive Committee had decided to suspend all planned ITTF events and activities involving international travel until June 30 as it discussed the effects of COVID-19 on the international table tennis event schedule on Sunday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee had announced postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games to no later than the summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apart from ITTF events suspension, the ITTF Executive Committee also had proposal of new dates for the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships to be announced in the coming week.
ITTF ranking lists as of March 2020 has been frozen, and further evaluation of all implications is required concerning postponement of events and travel restrictions.
–IANS
dm/bbh