Inaugural World Table Tennis (WTT) Series tournament in India to take place in Goa
The rights to hold the first World Table Tennis (WTT) series tournament in India have been granted to Panaji, the capital of Goa. The premier WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 will take place at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium on the Goa University Campus from February 27 to March 5.
At a news conference held here, Shri. Rohan Khaunte, the Hon. Minister of Tourism for the Government of Goa, delivered a statement to this effect. The competition will be hosted by Stupa Analytics, a well-known and locally-based sports analytics company, with strong backing from the Goa government.
Mr. Matt Pound, the managing director of WTT, Dr. Geeta Nagvenkar, the executive director of the Sports Authority of Goa, Ms. Megha Gambhir, the co-founder and CEO of Stupa Analytics, and Mr. Deepak Malik, the co-founder and chief sports officer of Stupa Analytics were also in attendance.
Rohan Khaunte, the Hon. Minister of Tourism for the Goa Government, spoke at the ceremony and stated, " Goa is the nation's biggest tourist destination and I am overjoyed to welcome WTT to our shores as they announce WTT Contenders Goa 2023 as the first event of the WTT Calendar. We are happy that Goa has been chosen as the host for a WTT event for the very first time in India. We have positioned ourselves as a top sporting state by hosting various international sporting events and will continue to do so to develop and promote sports in order to make India a sporting nation".
The four Grand, Smashes are the ultimate reward in the WTT Series, which is the official professional table tennis series of competitions. The world's top players compete against one another in a variety of category tournaments throughout the year. The six Star Contender tournaments include 48 male and female competitors in their separate singles main draws. Only the top 30 players in the global rankings—four of whom must be ranked in the top 20—are allowed to compete.
Matt Pound, Managing Director of WTT, commented on the opening of WTT Star Contender Goa by saying, "WTT is thrilled to be coming to Goa to host the very first WTT event in India. The WTT Star Contender in Goa will showcase the new brand of Table Tennis to the Indian people, and we believe this will be the first of many WTT events in India. We look forward to working closely with the Goa government and Stupa Analytics to make this event a big success and develop Table Tennis in India together, also in conjunction with TTFI. The world's best Table Tennis players will love coming to Goa and together we will make history".
A 16-team doubles main draw and an 8-team mixed doubles main draw are also features of Star Contender tournaments. While host nations are also given enough wild-card slots in both singles and doubles, eight qualifiers in each of singles and doubles get to compete against the best.
The WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 is positioned to be the ideal spark for the millions of fans of table tennis and up-and-coming players in the nation who have been itching to witness the best in the world play live and the top Indian players competing against them up until this point.
The seven-day extravaganza, which will include 200+ internationally renowned athletes and 500+ elite coaches in addition to worldwide WTT professionals, can be expected to feature world-class high-quality gaming and excitement.