Swaythling October 2019 (No.107)

Bordeaux journey: the 2020 World Veteran Championships
• In May 2015 at the Qoros World
Championships, Bordeaux won the
bid ahead of Kobe, Doha, Suwon
and Las Vegas.
• After winning the bid, members of
the organising committee attended
the World Veteran Championships
in 2016 in Alicante and 2018 in Las
Vegas, as well as the European
Veteran Championships in 2019 in
Budapest.
1,500 registrations were received.
The limit was raised from 4,600
to 5,000 players. The entry is
full; there is a waiting list of 1,300
players.
• Entries feature 1,172 players
from France, 1,170 from Germany,
220 from Japan, 165 from Spain
and 160 from England; also there
130 entrants from Australia, 116
from Belgium and 110 from India.
• Based on 5,000 players, it is
anticipated that 18,000 matches
will be played, 6,000 balls will be
used, 200 officials will be present.
Some 200 volunteers will be in
attendance.
• To date approaching 200 umpires
have volunteered their services,
in particular from China, Germany,
India, Japan, Sweden and the
United States.
Oman host for 2022
World Veteran
Championships
Oman won the bid to host the 2022
World Veteran Championships, they
finished ahead of the one further candidate,
Malaysia.
• Throughout there has been close
co-operation with the French Table
Tennis Federation and the Ligue
Nouvelle-Aquitaine de Tennis de
Table.
• The organising committee comprises
some 15 volunteers with a
wide range of professional knowledge
from information technology
to accountancy and expertise in
the subject of wine, essential for
the region!
• Further volunteers have enrolled
from local clubs.
• Some 1,200 rooms have been
booked with the Accor Hotel Group
– Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis.
• Everything is ready, just waiting
for the draw. Transport, catering,
partners, venue management,
registration, accreditation, sightseeing,
guest welcome, website,
answering questions; they are all
in place.
• Volunteers are working in a
professional way; they have great
experience in organising local and
national championships for 300 to
500 players but now 5,000; it’s a
different scale.
• Registration opened at midnight
on Thursday 28th February. In the
first minute of Friday 1st March, 10
registrations had been received. At
the end of the day 200 had been
submitted.
• During the first week of July,
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• Overall, 80 national associations
are represented, players travelling
from as far afield as Azerbaijan,
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria,
Palestine, Peru, Russia, South
Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
• Approximately, 1,500 accompanying
personnel are expected;
some 26 per cent of the entrants
are women.
• Notably, 1,200 personnel have
arranged their visit with a tour operator
or an organisation managed
by their national association. They
include Australia, China, Chinese
Taipei, Czech Republic, England,
Germany, Japan, Korea Republic
and Sweden.
• The oldest participant is Hong
Kong’s Yuet Yu Wa. She is 96
years old.
• The star name for the host country
is Jacques Secretin, the 1976
European champion.
• The equipment partner is Gewo;
they will be represented by three
ambassadors: Aleksandar Karakasevic,
Dimitry Mazunov and Sylvia
Khan.
• Two venues will be used, the Velodrome:
36 tables; the Exhibition
Centre: 152 tables. In addition 40
tables will be available for practice
and five kilometres of court surrounds
will be erected.
Swaythling Club
Invitations
2020 World Veteran Championships
The organisers of the 2020 World
Veteran Championships in Bordeaux,
to be staged from Monday
8th to Sunday 14th June, extend
invitations to 10 Swaythling Club
members to compete in what promises
to be a record breaking tournament;
one to remember.
Please reply no later than Monday
25th November
2020 World Team
Championships
Invitation to attend 2020 World
Team Championships in Busan:
four members are invited to attend
the 2020 World Team Championships
to be held in Busan, Korea
Republic from Sunday 22nd to
Sunday 29th March.
Please reply no later than Sunday
15th December
Members of the Oman Table Tennis Federation who presented the bid (left to right)
Mohammed Humaid Al Kelbani, Secretary General; Abdullah Mohamed Bamakhalef,
President and Sajad Al Lawati, Head of the Competition Committee.
(left to right) Pongi, Mattias Falck and Claude Bergeret
Standing (left to right) Jozsef Mayer, Robert Szentgyörgyi, Laszlo Pigniczki, Peter Rozsas,
Jozsef Kelemen.
Sitting (left to right) Erzsebet Jurikne-Heirits, Maria Jonyerne Nemet, Tibor Horvath,
Laszlo Volper.
Fair Play for Falck
Sweden’s Mattias Falck won the
Richard Bergman Fair Play Award
at the Liebherr 2019 World Championships;
he received the award from
Claude Bergeret, the newly elected
Secretary of the Swaythling Club.
The Hungarian branch of the Swaythling
Club met on Thursday 16th May
at the Hungarian House of Sports.
Notably three of their members
secured bronze medals at the 2019
European Veteran Championships
staged during the first week of July
in Budapest. Gizella Zacher in women’s
singles 70 years; Jozsef Mayer
in men’s singles 40 years and Karoly
Nemet in men’s singles 40 years.
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