POSTED: Tuesday April 28th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ITTF Press Release: H.I.S. 2009 World Table Tennis Championships

Olympic Decisions for London / Swine Flu Precautions

Yokohama, 28th April 2009

The Olympic Commission of the International Table Tennis Federation took important decisions today during the H.I.S. 2009 World Table Tennis Championships in Yokohama, Japan. The ITTF proposes to the International Olympic Committee to play the Singles events first and only then the Team event at the Olympic Games in London 2012.

Same for All Players in Singles
The reason behind this proposal is that it is fairer for the players who do not participate in the Team event. Also the media interest was much bigger in the Team event. For the Team event the ITTF will propose to play a simple knock out competition among the 16 teams. In Beijing the teams started in four groups.

The qualification in Singles will be in three stages. After the world championships in 2011 the best 28 (increased from 20 in Beijing) players in the ITTF World Ranking list will be qualified (with a maximum of two players from each association). The other chances to qualify are the continental qualification and the final world qualification.

Youth Olympic Games
The ITTF Olympic Commission decided a proposal to the IOC of the playing system for the table tennis events at the first Olympic Youth Games to be held in Singapore 2010 from the 14 to 26th of August.

32 players in Boys’ Singles and 32 in Girls Singles as well as 32 mixed teams in the Team event will compete in the Asian metropolis. The table tennis event will be held from August 21st to August 26th.

Playing System
In the Singles events the players will play in eight groups of four players in a round robin system. Two players will advance to the second stage that will also be played in groups of four. The best of each group will go to the quarter-finals, which will be played in a knock out system.

A Team match will consist of two players a boy and a girl. If a National Olympic Committee has only qualified a boy or a girl they can form a team with a player from the same continent.

Swine Flu Precautions

The ITTF and the Yokohama Organising Committee took some initiative to prevent any possible incidence in relation with the swine influenza. Two players from a high risk area that did not go through the quarantine upon their arrival at the Narita Airport on 25th have been tested on symptoms; they both were tested negative.

The other players from this delegation arriving on 26th or afterwards went through the quarantine and have been put under regular medical control.

ITTF’s/YOC’s Measures for all the Participating Players
A Japanese doctor is available on the Arena premises around the clock. The ITTF official doctor is available any time for the players and officials on site in Yokohama as well. The associations of other risky regions were asked to get their players to have a check – up as a precaution.

In case a player develops symptoms, he/she will get to appropriate medical facilities and further measures will be taken as situations demand.

Media Contact in Yokohama
From now on to the 6th May you can reach the ITTF Media Service on its Japanese cell phone number +81-80-3702-2178 or by e-mail mwidmer@ittf.com. Please remind that Japan’s time zone is GMT+9.

For pictures, articles, results and further information please consult www.ittf.com or contact me.

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Keywords · ITTF · London 2012 · Swine flu

Name: Marius Widmer
Organization: International Table Tennis Federation
Email:
Phone: +41-21-340 70 90
URL: http://www.ittf.com

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