Paris to host 2013 world team table tennis championships
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Paris will be the host city for the world team table tennis championships in 2013, the chief of International Table Tennis Federation announced in Moscow on Wednesday.
Doha, one of the only two candidate cities, withdrew its bid and turned to support the French capital city, after the Qatar Table Tennis Association knew Paris wants to mark the 10-year anniversary of the 47th Paris TT worlds by hosting the same events in 2013, said Adham Sharara.
"The Qatar Table Tennis Association was very kind to make the decision," Sharara told the press conference for the ITTF general meeting.
"So, the next three table tennis championships are all in Europe, which would be expected to be high-quality," he added.
Asked about the possible changes of rules for Olympic Games, the ITTF boss said his federation has decided on the reduction of the number of participants from three to two in individual events, and the members would give the final vote on the proposal two days later.
"Only the top two can play in singles events," he said, "It seems unfair to some members (of ITTF), especially, to China. I agree. It is true. But we have to understand that the changes are for the good of the sports in general. It is not a decision against China."
Besides, the ITTF had to suspend the membership of Kuwait table tennis association, to follow the request of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Sharara said.
"But the good news is that we add three new members, bringing the total number of member associations to 210 currently," he noted.
The new members are associations of Anguilla, Swaziland and Norfolk Islands.
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