World Table Tennis Championships Busan is postponed

The World Table Tennis Championships Busan to be held for the first time in South Korea have been postponed from March to June due to the spread of COVID-19.

Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don and Korea Table Tennis Association Chairman Yoo Seung-min announced that the championships originally scheduled to be held from March 22 to 29 have been postponed three months to June 21 through 28 in a press conference on Tuesday.

Over 1,200 table tennis players from 87 countries and 3,000 participants in the table tennis community across the world were expected to participate in this year’s event. However, the city of Busan explained that an official recommendation to delay the championships has been received from the International Table Tennis Federation as the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases are rapidly increasing in the country and the organizing committee accepted the recommendation.

Meanwhile, a series of domestic sports events have been also postponed. The speed skating championships 2020, scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday at the Korea National Training Center International Rink, and the 55th speed skating championships commemorating the deceased in the ice sports community have been temporarily postponed. The Mokdong Indoor Ice Rink has been also indefinitely closed since Monday to prevent the spread of COVID-19.


Jae-Yeong Yoo elegant@donga.com