World Table Tennis Championship

The start of the table tennis world championships was given in December 1926 in the London Hall of Memorial Hall. Initially, a group of table tennis enthusiasts from England led by Ivor Montagu assumed to hold the European Championship, however, since 8 athletes from India showed up for the competition, ITTF decided to declare these competitions the first World Championships ^[1] .

Masters of a small racket from seven countries played five sets of medals: in the men's team, men's and women's single, men's and mixed doubles. With the next championship in the program appeared women's doubles competition, since 1933 - women's team competition. Until 1957, world championships were held annually, and since 1959 - once every two years, which was associated with the start of the draw of the European Championships .

Due to the impossibility of holding it in Yugoslavia, the 45th World Cup lasted for two years, with the ITTF sharing for the first time individual and team competitions: in 1999, medals in personal sports were played in Eindhoven , and in team competitions in 2000 in Kuala Lumpur In 2001, the last personally-team championship was held in Osaka , the 47th World Championships were played already in different cities and at different times. In 2001, another important decision was made: starting in Paris- 2003, the participation of international duets is prohibited in the doubles category. In 2014, this ITTF decision was canceled and already during the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai, athletes could once again form international duets.

At the World Championships, in addition to medals, Challenge Cups are played. The winner of the men's singles competition on the initiative of Corti Woodcock is awarded the St. Bryde's Vase (after the name of the London Table Tennis Club at the St. Bryde Institute). The first tennis player to be awarded this prize was the legendary Fred Perry in 1929, who subsequently won the Wimbledon tournament three times and the last of the English. In 1931, the President of the Hungarian Table Tennis Association, Gaspard Gates, established the prize for the winners of women's singles competitions. ^[2]

At the 14th World Championships ( 1947 ), the Shah of Iran presented his cup with the organizer with the proposal to hand it to the best men's pair in the world. In 1948, for the first time champions of women's doubles competitions were awarded the Trophy of I. D. Pope, Honorary Secretary of ITTF. From the same year, the mixed winners of the tournament are awarded with the challenge prize of Heidusek, established by the secretary of the Czechoslovak Union of Table Tennis, Zdenek Heydusek. ^[2]

The winners of men's teams competitions from the very first World Cup are awarded to the Lady Sweitling Cup (mother of the first ITTF President Ivor Montague ), and the best women's teams are awarded to the Marcel Corbiun Cup, ITTF Vice President and President of the French Table Tennis Federation. ^[2]

In the history of the world championships one can single out whole epochs of almost complete hegemony of representatives of one country. Until the 1950s, the Europeans were the trendsetters of fashion, especially the many victories won by athletes from Hungary . In 1930 , 1931 , 1933, Hungarian tennis players won all kinds of programs, and in 1935, the strongest master of that time, Victor Barna, won four gold medals in a single championship, setting a record that, due to the division of the individual and team world championships will be beaten.

In 1952, a new era in the development of the game began - the world championship was held for the first time in Asia and for the first time the Japanese players who spoke at the world championships won four of the seven gold medals. In the same place, in Bombay , Chinese tennis players made their debut in the fight for the title of the strongest in the world, but they won the first world champion title in 1959 - Rong Gotuan became the strongest in singles at the World Championships in Dortmund . At the next championship, which took place two years later in Beijing , the hosts won three of the top seven titles, in 1965 - five. In 1967 and 1969, sportsmen from the Middle Kingdom for political reasons did not take part in the world championships, but then the rivalry of representatives of the Asian school was continued.

The 1969 World Cup in Munich became the most successful for athletes from the USSR : Zoya Rudnova and Svetlana Greenberg won doubles and in the team, which also included Rita Pogosova and Laima Amelina . Six years later, Stanislav Gomozkov and Tatyana Ferdman celebrated a doubleste victory in a tournament in Calcutta .

Since the 1980s, the advantage of the masters of a small racket from China (with the exception of the men's single and team level) has become overwhelming. Until the second half of the 90s, European players successfully opposed the Chinese players, as confirmed by the single European champion titles at the World Championships of 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, as well as the Swedish team, which became the world champion in 1989, 1991, 1993, 2000. However, the general trend of the advantages of players from China did not break this - Chinese hegemony in table tennis, especially in women's tennis, exists and continues to gain momentum.

Individual competition

Team competitions (men) ^[3]

Team competitions (women) ^[3]

Medal Score (General)

For the year 2019.