2022 WTT Youth Series Host Application Window Commences

The opportunity to develop table tennis stars of the future is now open with Member Associations (MA) or any other entities with the support of their respective MA invited to apply for 2022 Youth Series hosting rights from now until 9 September.

Successfully launched in 2021, Portugal hosted the first-ever WTT Youth Series event when the WTT Youth Contender took place in Vila Real in May. This youth event was the first to be held despite the global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

WTT Youth Star Contender Tunis took centre stage in Africa before returning to Europe for back-to-back youth table tennis action, as the Czech Republic and Slovenia hosted WTT Youth Contender Havirov and WTT Youth Star Contender Otocec in June.

The 2021 WTT Youth Series calendar will see another 14 events scheduled across Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America.

Key stakeholders have enthusiastically welcomed the WTT Youth Series restructure featuring new age categories – U11, U13, U15, U17, U19. The introduction of individual Girls’ and Boys’ events played on separate competition days, implemented as part of WTT’s response to Covid-19, has also proved successful and will be continued in 2022.

Tiago Viegas, WTT Youth Series Manager said: “Despite the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have enjoyed much success with WTT Youth Series in 2021. We are looking ahead to 2022 with much excitement and welcome more member associations to come onboard this fulfilling journey to host WTT Youth Series events with us.”

WTT Youth Series form the basis of an event pyramid designed to provide youth players with the opportunity to transition into professional careers. The series is divided into two tiers - WTT Youth Star Contender and WTT Youth Contender.

It has already unearthed several promising young talents, including Romania’s Iulian Chirita and Wales’ Anna Hursey, who won the U17 Boys’ and Women’s Singles titles respectively at WTT Youth Contender Vila Real.

Germany’s Kay Stumper also showed the world glimpse of his emerging talent by winning the Under-19 Boys’ Singles title at WTT Youth Star Contender Tunis with Russia’s Vlada Voronina doing likewise when she captured Under-19 Girls’ Singles title in Tunisia.

For further information and enquiries please email youth@worldtabletennis.com

About World Table Tennis

Successfully launched in 2021, WTT heralds a new era for professional table tennis with the new WTT Series showcasing the sport’s best and up-and-coming table tennis players in up to 34 events worldwide. The WTT Series features four Grand Smashes as the pillars of the support. Eight single-table, single-gender WTT Champions events, the WTT Contender Series and the season-ending WTT Cup Finals, all of which will entertain fans and inspire future generations of table tennis players. Complemented by the global WTT Youth Series and WTT Feeder Series, WTT creates a pathway that showcases a player’s journey from day one to World No. 1 through the ITTF Table Tennis World Rankings. For more information, please visit worldtabletennis.com.

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