Table tennis stars head to London for Olympic test
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Xinhua, November 22, 2011
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pro Tour Grand Finals will bring some of the world's best players to London whilst at the same time doubling up as a test event for London 2012.
The event which takes place from 24-27 November at ExCeL London sees Olympic gold medallists and world champions battle it out for the 365,000-U.S. dollar prize money.
Top players at the event include Chinese athletes Zhang Jike and Ding Ning, winners of both singles events at the World Championships and the World Cup. Also featuring in the competition are the men's singles Olympic gold medallists Ma Lin from China who won gold in 2008 and Ryu Seung Min from South Korea who was Olympic champion at Athens in 2004.
For Britain, Paul Drinkhall and Joanna Parker line up in the singles competition, whilst in the women's doubles Parker will be joined by Kelly Sibley. The men's doubles team will see in-form Liam Pitchford pair up with Andrew Baggaley.
London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) is testing key operations at the event including field of play, sports equipment, technology and workforce.
"We have worked hard with the ITTF and English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) to bring this high profile event to London. The excellent sporting competition will provide fantastic action and will ensure that our operations are fully tested," said Debbie Jevans, Director of Sport at LOCOG.
Judit Farago, chief executive and competitions executive director of ITTF, said: "We are delighted that as a result of the cooperation between LOCOG, the ETTA and ITTF, one of our biggest events is serving as a test event for London 2012.
"The ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals is always the yearly highlight of the professional tour, but this time both the motivation and the interest from the players is higher than usual with the attraction of competing in what will be an Olympic venue next year. The standard of player is world class and it is the perfect time to bring back top international table tennis to London."
