ITTF World Tour

In 1996 the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) launched a brand new premier competition - The ITTF Pro Tour.

And in 2012, after 15 years of solid success, they took it to the next level and re-named it the ITTF World Tour.

Designed for the best table tennis players in the world, the new ITTF World Tour - sponsored by the China-based car manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) for 2012 - has a total prize fund of $2,500,000 and an end of season finale with a prize fund of $1,000,000 - the highest ever in the history of the sport.

The ITTF World Tour is a Grand Prix series in which players compete in International Open tournaments around the world and earn grand prix points and prize money according to how well they perform.

The best performers (who also meet the qualifying criteria) are then invited to the end of year Grand Finals where a prize fund of one million US dollars is up for grabs.

2012 saw a slight change from the previous ITTF Pro Tour format.

A much bigger prize fund was available at the end of year Grand Finals, (US$1,000,000 - up from US$365,000 in 2011) with the winners of the men's and women's singles titles each receiving US$104,000 - the highest available in the sport of table tennis.

The 2012 main tour had 15 International Open Tournaments, starting with the Hungarian Open in Budapest in January and finishing with the Polish Open in November.

However a Euro-Africa Satellite Circuit was also been added for 2012 (and there were plans to introduce similar satellite circuits for the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region in 2013).

So, the primary World Tour events were the 15 International Opens, but they were supplemented by 6 smaller "qualifying" Euro-Africa satellite events (See the full list of ITTF World Tour and Euro-Africa Satellite Circuit events below).

Each tournament holds events for:

• Men's singles
• Women's singles
• Men's doubles
• Women's doubles
• Under 21 years Men's singles
• Under 21 years Women's singles

Players who finish in the top 64 places at each primary World Tour tournament are awarded grand prix points (and prize money) according to their final positions.

The 15 tournaments are graded according to their importance, with the winners of the singles titles receiving between 5,000 points at the least important events (Hungarian Open, Spanish Open, Chile Open and Czech Open), and up to 24,000 points for the top event (China Open 2).

The players who accumulate the most points are in a strong position to be invited to the end of year Grand Finals.

The number of players at the 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals will be as follows...

• Men's and women's singles will each have 20 players (16 qualified from the World Tour, 4 qualified from the Euro-Africa Circuit).
• Men's and women's doubles will each have 8 pairs.
• Under 21 men's and women's singles will each have 8 players.

And the qualifying criteria are...

SINGLES

• The top 15 men and 15 women who have accumulated the most grand prix points and have competed in at least 5 tournaments.
• The ITTF will invite one man and one woman from the association hosting the 2012 World Tour Grand Finals if they have competed in at least 5 tournaments.
• If a player from the host association is already amongst the top 15 players or does not meet the participation criteria, then the 16th player in order of grand prix points will be invited.
• The top 4 men and 4 women who have accumulated the largest number of points at the 2012 Euro-Africa Satellite Circuit events will be also invited.

DOUBLES

• The top 7 men's doubles pairs and 7 women's doubles pairs who have accumulated the most grand prix points, as a pair, and have competed in at least 4 tournaments.
• In addition, the ITTF will invite one men's doubles pair and one women's doubles pair from the association hosting the 2012 World Tour Grand Finals if they have competed in at least 4 tournaments.
• If a pair from the host association are already amongst the top 7 pairs or do not meet the participation criteria, then the 8th pair in the order of grand prix points will be invited.
• In the case that one player appears in two or more double pairs, only the highest qualifying pair will be considered.

UNDER 21 YEARS

• The top 7 U21 men and 7 U21 women who have accumulated the largest number of grand prix points and have competed in at least 4 tournaments in two continents.
• In addition, the ITTF will invite one U21 man and one U21 woman from the association hosting the 2012 World Tour Grand Finals.

The 2012 Euro-Africa Satellite Circuit will commence with four tournaments in Europe and two in Africa.

There are also plans to introduce similar circuits for the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region in 2013.

At the conclusion of the 2012 Euro-Africa Circuit, the leading four players in each of the Men's and Women's Singles Standings (irrespective of number of appearances), will be invited to compete in the 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.

These four players will be drawn in the first round against the four lowest qualifiers on the 2012 ITTF World Tour Standing.

Announcing these exciting changes, Judit Farago (ITTF CEO, Executive Director - Competitions) said:

These are exciting times for the ITTF. With the greatest ever prize money at the World Tour Grand Finals and increased quality of competition, it clearly demonstrates our ambitions to take our sport to the next level.

Our plans are also to complete our satellite tour with the Americas and the Asian-Pacific from 2013 onwards and at the same time to further improve the level of our premium events on the World Tour. This will create opportunities for many players to compete further on the international circuit, whilst at the same time making the World Tour a truly spectacular showcase for our sport.

You can get the details of all the tournaments which made up the ITTF World Tour in 2012 with the winners of the Men's Singles, and all the results of the Grand Finals here.