Thessaloniki’s Ioanna Ztaliu generally became the first from the field of international Greek table tennis umpires to pass to the blue badge status umpires of the sport. Ztaliu has successfully completed all the procedures to upgrade her status (Advanced Rules Exams) and her name was announced this week along with eight others from around the world, who receive the blue badge and gain the right to officiate in top competitions, from Major World Federation events to Paralympic and Olympic Games.
Ioanna Ztaliu became a referee of the Hellenic Philatelic Table Tennis Federation in 2009. In 2016 she received the “anointing” of the ITTF and the white badge and in 2019 she passed the Advanced Rules Examinations, which was the first step for the blue badge.
After completing the examination part, the international referee candidate for this upgrade must complete at least two years of participation in international competitions and pass higher level refereeing seminars.
Of the competitive events abroad, he needs to be present in at least two and get at least four positive evaluations from evaluators. In the 2020-2021 season, the Northern Hellenic referee did not participate in international matches due to the known effects of the coronavirus and began to go abroad again in 2022.
He completed the successful assessments (recently the fourth and final), passed the prescribed interview in English this summer in Poland on the sidelines of the U15 and U19 European Championships and the other day was officially announced by the ITTF among nine new blue badge status referees.
From now on, Ztaliu has the possibility to work in top sports events of table tennis. It can be selected for Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and all ITTF and WTT Major events (world championship, Contender, Star Contender etc.).
The process involves the organizing authorities issuing invitations to the blue badge referees, the latter expressing an interest in what they want to go and then either being selected for them or not.
Finally, let’s remember that last summer in Orestiada, Ztaliu was a referee in the Balkan Youth Championship.
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