Germany's Dusseldorf to host world table tennis championships in 2017

ITTF president Thomas Weikert confirmed here on Tuesday that Germany's Dusseldorf will host the world table tennis championships in 2017.

"Since I'm German, I'm glad that we will have again the championships in Germany," said Weikert, referring to the world team championships held in Dortmund in 2012.

The number of the member associations of ITTF has risen to 222, but Dusseldorf was the only candidate city for the 2017 edition. The sharp contrast seemed not to be a worry for Weikert.

"We have to consider that because our event is so big - in this huge expo center with, let's say, 3,000 accredited persons - only a few nations are able to host such a big event, like China, like Japan, like Germany, maybe Russia, maybe France and Sweden," said Weikert.

According to the ITTF chief, a total of four German cities expressed interest in bidding for the 2017 world championships, and Sweden initially applied for the 2016 world team championships but had to turn to the 2018 edition after losing to Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur.

Weikert admitted that more efforts have to be made by ITTF to popularize the sport around the globe.

"We discussed in the meeting how to become one of the best five spots in all terms, not just in membership. The ITTF is strong in some fields, for example media and promotion, but we also have some weak points,

"The thing is not that we are the biggest association, but that we try to get table tennis all over the world," he said. Endi