World Table Tennis Championships

The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in even numbered years.

World Table Tennis Championships
2009 WTTC in Yokohama, Japan
Status	Active
Genre	Global sports event
Date(s)	c. April–May
Frequency	Annual
Inaugurated	1926 (1926)
Organised by	ITTF

In the earlier days of the tournament, Hungary's men's team was a dominant force, winning the championships 12 times. This was followed by a short period of dominance by Japan in the 1950s. From the 1960s onwards, China emerged as the new dominant power in this tournament and, with the exception of 1989–2000, when Sweden won four times, China continues to dominate the sport. China's men's team holds a record 23 world team championship titles.

In the 1950s, Japan's women team was a force to be reckoned with winning a total of 8 titles. The Chinese women started their strong grip on the world team championships from the 1970s onwards. They have only lost twice since 1975. China holds 23 women's team titles.

Trophies

Japanese men's team won the Swaythling Cup and Romanian women's team won the Corbillon Cup at the 1955 World Table Tennis Championships

North Korean Kim Hyok-bong and Kim Jong won mixed doubles trophy, the Heydusek Cup, in 2013.

There are 7 different trophies presented to the winners of the various events, held by winning associations, and returned for the next world championships.^[1]

• Team competition:
  • Swaythling Cup for men's team, donated in 1926 by Lady Baroness Swaythling, mother of the first ITTF president, Ivor Montagu
  • Corbillon Cup for women's team, donated in 1933 by Marcel Corbillon, president of the French Table Tennis Association. The original Cup was won by German team in 1939, and disappeared during Berlin occupation after World War II; the current Corbillon Cup is a replica made in 1949.
• Singles competition:
  • St. Bride Vase for men's singles, donated in 1929 by C.Corti Woodcock, member of the exclusive St. Bride Table Tennis Club in London, after Fred Perry of England won the title in Budapest
  • Geist Prize for women's singles, donated in 1931 by Dr. Gaspar Geist, president of the Hungarian Table Tennis Association
• Doubles competition:
  • Iran Cup for men's doubles; first presented at the 1947 World Championships by the Shah of Iran
  • W.J. Pope Trophy for women's doubles; donated in 1948 by the ITTF honorary general secretary W.J. Pope
  • Heydusek Cup for mixed doubles; donated in 1948 by Zdenek Heydusek, secretary of the Czechoslovakia Association.

In addition, the Egypt Cup is presented to the next host of world championships. The Cup was donated by King Farouk of Egypt in 1939, when the championships were held in Cairo, Egypt.

Championships

The ITTF held individual events and team events separately for the first time in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and 2001 was the last time individual and team events were held together. Starting in 2003 individual events and team events were held separately again and each continue to be held separately every other year.

• From 1929 to 2020: open for all players and teams.
• Since 2021: 128 players and 32 teams qualified in individual and team games.

  Individual events   Team events

Edition Year Host city Host country Events 1 1926 London England 5 2 1928 Stockholm Sweden 6 3 1929 Budapest Hungary 6 4 1930 Berlin Germany 6 5 1931 Budapest Hungary 6 6 1932 Prague Czechoslovakia 6 7 1933 Baden bei Wien Austria 6 8 1934 Paris France 7 9 1935 Wembley England 7 10 1936 Prague Czechoslovakia 7 11 1937 Baden bei Wien Austria 7 12 1938 Wembley England 7 13 1939 Cairo Egypt 7 14 1947 Paris France 7 15 1948 Wembley England 7 16 1949 Stockholm Sweden 7 17 1950 Budapest Hungary 7 18 1951 Vienna Austria 7 19 1952 Mumbai India 7 20 1953 Bucharest Romania 7 21 1954 Wembley England 7 22 1955 Utrecht Netherlands 7 23 1956 Tokyo Japan 7 24 1957 Stockholm Sweden 7 25 1959 Dortmund FR Germany 7 26 1961 Beijing China 7 27 1963 Prague Czechoslovakia 7 28 1965 Ljubljana Yugoslavia 7 29 1967 Stockholm Sweden 7 30 1969 Munich FR Germany 7 31 1971 Nagoya Japan 7 32 1973 Sarajevo Yugoslavia 7 33 1975 Kolkata India 7 34 1977 Birmingham England 7 35 1979 Pyongyang DPR Korea 7 36 1981 Novi Sad Yugoslavia 7 37 1983 Tokyo Japan 7 38 1985 Gothenburg Sweden 7 39 1987 New Delhi India 7 40 1989 Dortmund FR Germany 7 41 1991 Chiba City Japan 7 42 1993 Gothenburg Sweden 7 43 1995 Tianjin China 7 44 1997 Manchester England 7

Edition Year Host city Host country Events 45 1999 Eindhoven Netherlands 5 2000 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 2 46 2001 Osaka Japan 7 47 2003 Paris France 5 2004 Doha Qatar 2 48 2005 Shanghai China 5 2006 Bremen Germany 2 49 2007 Zagreb Croatia 5 2008 Guangzhou China 2 50 2009 Yokohama Japan 5 2010 Moscow Russia 2 51 2011 Rotterdam Netherlands 5 2012 Dortmund Germany 2 52 2013 Paris France 5 2014 Tokyo Japan 2 53 2015 Suzhou China 5 2016 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 2 54 2017 Düsseldorf Germany 5 2018 Halmstad Sweden 2 55 2019 Budapest Hungary 5 - 2020 Busan RO Korea (cancelled) – 56 2021 Houston United States 5 55 2022 Chengdu China[2] 2 57 2023 Durban South Africa[3] 5 56 2024 Busan RO Korea[4] 2 58 2025 Doha Qatar[5] 5 57 2026 London England 2

All-time medal table

Further information on each event: List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists

Chinese women's team held the trophy for the 20th time in 2016. The team have only lost twice since 1975.

Updated after the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships. Doubles pairs from different associations were counted as a half a point.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	158	105	170.5	433.5
2	Hungary	68	59	73.5	200.5
3	Japan	48	42	77	167
4	Czechoslovakia	28	36.5	58.5	123
5	Romania	17	10.5	18.5	46
6	Sweden	15	13	14.5	42.5
7	England	14	26.5	57	97.5
8	United States	10	3	19.5	32.5
9	Austria	7	13.5	35	55.5
10	South Korea	4.5	18	44	66.5
11	Germany	4	15.5	21.5	41
12	North Korea	3.5	8	12	23.5
13	Yugoslavia	3	11	13.5	27.5
14	Soviet Union	3	4	7	14
15	France	2	3.5	20	25.5
16	Chinese Taipei	1	3	9	13
17	Singapore	1	2	5	8
18	West Germany	1	2	4	7
19	Korea	1	1	3	5
20	Scotland	1	1	1.5	3.5
21	Poland	0	3.5	6.5	10
22	Hong Kong	0	2	24.5	26.5
23	Belgium	0	2	1	3
24	Wales	0	1.5	3	4.5
25	Belarus	0	1.5	1.5	3
26	East Germany	0	1	1	2
27	Croatia	0	0.5	2.5	3
28	Luxembourg	0	0.5	1	1.5
29	Spain	0	0.5	0	0.5
30	Egypt	0	0	2.5	2.5
31	India	0	0	2	2
32	Greece	0	0	1.5	1.5
33	Denmark	0	0	1	1
	Italy	0	0	1	1
	Portugal	0	0	1	1
	Vietnam	0	0	1	1
37	Netherlands	0	0	0.5	0.5
Totals (37 entries)		390	391	716	1,497

Multiple medalists

Further information: List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists

Top medalists ordered by number of gold medals at the World Table Tennis Championships (including at team events) are listed below.^[6] 12 men won at least nine gold medals and 11 women with a minimum of eight.

Men

Rank	Player	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Victor Barna	Hungary  England	1929	1954	22	7	12	41
2	Miklós Szabados	Hungary	1929	1937	15	6	3	24
3	Ma Long	China	2006	2024	14	1	4	19
4	Bohumil Váňa	Czechoslovakia	1935	1955	13	10	7	30
5	Ichiro Ogimura	Japan	1954	1965	12	5	3	20
6	Wang Liqin	China	1997	2013	11	4	5	20
7	Xu Xin	China	2009	2019	10	1	2	13
8	Ivan Andreadis	Czechoslovakia	1947	1957	9	10	8	27
9	Ferenc Sidó	Hungary	1947	1961	9	9	8	26
10	Ma Lin	China	1999	2013	9	7	4	20
11	Wang Hao	China	2003	2014	9	4	3	16
12	Fan Zhendong	China	2014	2024	9	2	2	13

Women

Rank	Player	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Mária Mednyánszky	Hungary	1926	1936	18	6	4	28
2	Angelica Rozeanu	Romania	1937	1957	17	5	8	30
3	Wang Nan	China	1997	2008	15	3	2	20
4	Anna Sipos	Hungary	1929	1935	11	6	4	21
5	Gizella Farkas	Hungary	1947	1959	10	9	8	27
6	Guo Yue	China	2003	2013	10	5	2	17
7	Zhang Yining	China	1999	2009	10	2	4	16
8	Li Xiaoxia	China	2006	2016	9	5	2	16
9	Deng Yaping	China	1989	1997	9	5	–	14
10	Ding Ning	China	2009	2019	8	5	3	16
11	Liu Shiwen	China	2009	2019	8	4	3	15

See also

• Table tennis at the Summer Olympics
• Table Tennis World Cup
• ITTF World Tour
• ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

References

1. "The World Championship Trophies – A Retrospective". ittf.com. ITTF. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
2. "China's Chengdu bidding to host 2022 World Table Tennis Championships". Xinhua. 9 March 2019. Archived from the original on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
3. "South Africa to host World Table Tennis Championships for first time after Durban beats Düsseldorf in 2023 race". insidethegames.biz. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
4. "Busan to host 2024 table tennis world championships". Yonhap. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
5. "Doha Selected to Host the 2025 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals". ittf.com. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
6. "Medalists of World Table Tennis Championships". tabletennis.guide. Retrieved 8 November 2011.

External links

• ITTF Museum