ITTF cancels nine tournaments due to COVID-19 including two World Tour events

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) were on Friday forced to cancel as many as nine tournaments including two World Tour events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ITTF has already suspended all its activities till June end. Earlier this month, the world body had set new dates for the World Team Championships, which were supposed to take place in Busan in March. It will now be held in September-October.

Among the cancelled events are Korea Open (June 16-21) and Australian Open (June 23-28), both being World Tour events. The other seven cancelled events are from the junior circuit.

The events which will be rescheduled to 2021 including Asian Olympic Qualifier (originate dates April 6-12), European Olympics Singles Qualifier (April 8-12) and World Singles Qualifier (May 28-31).

"With the spread of COVID-19 across different parts of the world, the ITTF is monitoring closely the overall situation across the globe and is in frequent contact with hosts of ITTF events in an effort to keep the international calendar as updated as possible," read an ITTF statement.

"The ITTF is looking at a number of different scenarios and possibilities of rescheduling, but it is currently still too early to make any decisions until there is greater certainty about when activities can resume.

"Nevertheless, the ITTF is trying to keep its calendar as updated as possible, with information that comes to hand," it added.