Most recent season or competition: 2023 ITTF Africa Cup | |
Sport | Table tennis |
---|---|
Singles entrants | 16 men; 16 women |
Confederation | African Table Tennis Federation |
Most recent champion(s) | Men: Omar Assar Women: Hana Goda |
Most titles | Men: Omar Assar (5) Women: Dina Meshref (8) |
The ITTF AFRICA Cup is an annual table tennis competition held by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the African Table Tennis Federation. The competition features men's and women's singles events, with 16 players qualifying to take part in each event, subject to a maximum of two players per association. [1] [2]
Starting from 2016, the Africa Cup serves as a qualification event for the World Cup.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations that use ITTF-approved sponge table tennis rackets. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF is responsible for the organization of numerous international competitions, including the World Table Tennis Championships.
The International University Sports Federation is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. It was founded in 1949 as the world governing body of national university sports organizations and currently has 165 member associations from five continents. Between 1949 and 2011, it was based in Brussels (Belgium); it was relocated to Lausanne (Switzerland) since 2011.
Timo Boll is a German professional table tennis player, who currently plays for Borussia Düsseldorf. He is currently ranked 23rd in the ITTF world rankings as of August 2024. Boll is the most successful German table tennis player of all time, having won several medals at Olympic Games, world cups, and world championships. He was ranked world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and in March 2018.
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.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov or Dmytro Ovtcharov is a Ukrainian-born German table tennis player. His father Mikhail, a Soviet table tennis champion in 1982, moved his family to Germany shortly after Dimitrij was born.
The Table Tennis World Cup has been held annually since 1980. There had only been men's singles until the start of women's singles in 1996 and team competitions in 1990. The team competitions were canceled until the relaunch in 2007, and now held in odd-numbered years. The competitions are sanctioned by International Table Tennis Federation and classified as R1 in rating weightings, B2 in bonus weightings in the ITTF world ranking.
Ma Long is a Chinese professional table tennis player, six-time Olympic champion, and three-time World Champion. He is the reigning World Cup singles champion. Widely regarded as the greatest table tennis player of all time, he is the first and only male player to complete a career Double Grand Slam as the Olympic gold medalist in men's singles in 2016 and 2020. He is also the first and only table tennis athlete to win 6 gold medals in summer Olympics — no other table tennis player has more than four. He holds the record for most Olympic gold medals won by a Chinese athlete.
The European Table Tennis Championships is an international table tennis competition for the national teams of the member associations of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU). First held in 1958, the ETTU organised the European Championships every two years in even-numbered years until 2002, when they changed to odd-numbered years. Since 2007, the competition has been contested annually.
Zhang Jike is a retired Chinese table tennis player.
Tang Peng is mainland Chinese-born table tennis player who now represents Hong Kong. He recently married Tie Yana, another Chinese-born table tennis player representing Hong Kong. As of December 2016, he is ranked the number nineteenth player in the world.
Yu Mengyu is a retired Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Liaoning, China, Yu left China in 2006 at the age of 17 to join the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. In the same year, Yu made her international debut for Singapore.
Bernadette Cynthia Szőcs is a professional table tennis player from Romania.
Marcos André Sousa da Silva Freitas is a Portuguese table tennis player who won European Championships medals in singles, doubles, and team events. He represented Portugal four times at the Summer Olympics.
Quadri Akinade Aruna is a professional Nigerian table tennis player. He competed for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics, and 2020 Summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals in 2016. He is the first African player to be ranked in the top 10 in the world.
Xu Xin is a Chinese professional table tennis player. He first reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in January 2013.
Fan Zhendong is a Chinese professional table tennis player. After joining the Chinese national table tennis team in 2012 as the youngest member of the team, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion and the youngest World Table Tennis Champion. In April 2018, he achieved the top spot in the world rankings after holding position No. 2 for 29 consecutive months, starting from November 2015. He won the Olympic gold medal in men's singles at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, becoming just the 6th male player to achieve a Grand Slam.
Adriana Yamila Díaz González is a Puerto Rican table tennis player. As of November 2022, she was ranked 3 and 11 in the Table Tennis World Ranking according to the International Table Tennis Federation. Díaz is sponsored by Butterfly and Adidas. Adriana is the sister of the table tennis player, Melanie Díaz, and cousin of Brian Afanador.
The Pan American Table Tennis Cup is an annual table tennis competition held in the Americas since 2017. It consists of men's and women's singles events. Only 16 invited players and no more than 2 players per association are allowed to participate in each event. Since its inception, it is recognised as the qualification event for the Table Tennis World Cup. The competitions are organized as a joint effort of the Latin American Table Tennis Union and the Northern American Table Tennis Union. The event is sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
The African Table tennis Championships is a tournament organized by the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) to crown the best table tennis players in Africa. For the Team event there is the African Table tennis Team Championships. This is not to be confused with the African Games, the multi sports event, held every four years where table tennis is included since 1973.
Hina Hayata is a Japanese international table tennis player. She is the most successful player on the ITTF Challenge Series since its inception in 2017. Owing to her stature, she is able to generate more spin on both sides than most female players. She is coached by Daisuka Ishida.