They are leaving for South Africa and the World Table Tennis Championships Gionese, Toliou

Durban, South Africa is gearing up for the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals, which this year is all about the individual events (men’s and women’s singles and doubles, as well as the mixed doubles). It will be organized May 20-28 and will bring together the best and the best of the world’s sports scene and Greece will, of course, be present at this great competitive event.

It will be represented by its first names on the international evaluation board, Panagiotis Gionis and Katerina Toliou, who left on Wednesday with final destination Durban together with the men’s national federation coach, Costas Vatsaklis.

Since 1939, of course, the World Championship in Cairo has changed a lot, the way it is held and the limit of participations also affect our country, but in any case, participation in the top event is a powerful motivation.

The consignment will arrive on Thursday in Durban. It is estimated to have a journey of around 13 hours, as it transfers to Johannesburg via Istanbul and, from there, takes another flight to the city that will host the games. The preparation in Athens was completed on Wednesday morning without any problems.

Toliou, who had also competed in the 2021 US World Championship and with Yannis Sgouropoulos the Greek presence was again double, comes from a match in France with Rennes to close this year’s Pro B.

Gionis, who also has the Polish playoffs with Bogoria ahead of him, is still feeling some discomfort in his left shoulder, but is expected to be in better condition by the time the games start.

The limit of 128 men and the same number of women has been set by the ITTF for entries in the World Table Tennis Championships Finals, precisely because it has given the institution the character of finals. In the player list, for this year’s event, he mentions 127 men and 126 women.

Gionis and Toliou earned the right to participate based on their good position in the world ranking table (as number 111 and 171 respectively). They will only take part in the singles, as there are also restrictions in the doubles events and the ranking lists count.

For the top countries of the sport (China, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Korea, etc.) the limit in singles is five male athletes and the same number of female athletes.

The draws are held on the eve of the start of the World Cup and the fixture list at ICC Durban opens at 11:00 Greek time next Saturday. The first day includes meetings in all five events, the negative for the less strong athletes is that in singles there are no groups, which at least give them the opportunity for more matches.

Also, the changed system of conduct provides everywhere “knockout” matches from the beginning to the end. In the men’s and women’s singles the scoreboard is “128”. In the doubles of the same categories they are of “64”, as in the mixed doubles of “64”.

Gionis and Toliou are scheduled to begin their effort next Saturday from the first round of singles.