S.Korea s Busan wins bid to host TT worlds in 2020

Seoul May 1 (IANS) South Korea has won the bid to host the 2020 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Team Table Tennis Championships.

The Korea Table Tennis Association said on Tuesday that South Korea s southern port city Busan has been named the host city for the 2020 worlds at the ITTF Annual General Meeting in Halmstad Sweden reports Yonhap news agency.

It will be the first time for South Korea to host the table tennis worlds.

Busan competed against Katerinburg of Russia and San Jose of the United States to bring the world s biggest table tennis event to its city.

Busan s bid was backed by the South Korean International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Ryu Seung-min who was the men s singles table tennis champion at the 2004 Summer Games.

Former Olympic table tennis gold medallists Yoo Nam-kyu and Hyun Jung-hwa also joined Busan s bidding campaign to host the worlds.

The ITTF worlds are a mega sporting event where some 2 000 athletes and officials from 130 countries participate.

Busan hosted the Asian Games in 2002.

--IANS
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