Laos is to host the 26th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship in Vientiane Capital, with teams from 17 countries attending.
Secretary of the Laos Table Tennis Federation (LTTF) and Head of Organizing Secretariat Mr. Somchai Vongsa said, “The 26th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship is being hosted by Laos from 1 to 6 September for the very first time, with 165 athletes from 17 Asian countries attending.”
The countries participating in the competition include Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Taipei, Hong Kong, Iran, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Laos.
The tournament includes 11 competing categories, which are hosted at two levels: Junior Level under the age of 15 (U15) and Youth Level under 19 years of age (U19).
“Four categories are set for the U15 athletes’ competition, such as men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, whereas we have seven categories for the U19 athletes to compete in, including men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, etc.” he explained further.
As the host, Laos has a privilege of having 16 athletes participate in 10 out of the 11 categories, the LTTF secretary mentioned. The last category doesn’t have a participant as the team doesn’t have an athlete to compete in the U19 women’s singles category.
Alongside the 165 athletes, more than 100 referees, technical teams and concerned authorities from several countries will play an important role in this tournament as well.
Mr. Somchai also informed that the winners and runners up of men’s and women’s matches for both levels will be entitled to participate in the 2022 World Youth Table Tennis Championship.
