The third edition of the World Table Tennis Day, hosted by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) will be held Thursday 6 April 2016.
The World Table Tennis Day is a celebration of the joy to play Table Tennis for fun, bringing people together where the focus is less on the competition and more on participation and the element of fun.
Every year on April 6, table tennis fans around the world will show that Table Tennis is a sport for all and for everyone, everywhere.
On the eve of World Table Tennis Day, ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT shared “The idea behind this day is to gather Table Tennis enthusiasts, attract people who usually don’t play table tennis, promote the love for our sport, and ideally engage new players to the practice in the long term. I can’t wait for the entire world to play table tennis on 6 April.”
Together with the National Associations and many table tennis fans around the world, there are currently 378 different events in 85 countries across all continents, which aims to have over 60.000 participants on 6 April to celebrate World Table Tennis Day.
Activities range from a table tennis for peace event in Afghanistan and an attempt to break the world record for ‘around-the-world’ table tennis (currently 139) in Katwijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
The reason behind World Table Tennis Day being on 6 April, is because that day was established by the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
On the launch of the 2017 edition of World Table Tennis Day, ITTF Development Director Leandro OLVECH stated “We are very excited about how quickly World Table Tennis Day is growing into the biggest day of the year for table tennis. We invite everyone to arrange an event, big or small, the most important thing is to celebrate and share the passion for table tennis, having fun and bringing people together.”
So stop what you are doing on 6 April, and play some table tennis anywhere, anytime!
Remember, the key points on World Table Tennis Day is:
- Universal, Popular and Inclusive
- No matter if small or big event, do something!
- No matter if 6 April, before or after, do something!
