World Table Tennis Championship
Where are the next World Table Tennis Championships being held?
Who is the current World Champion? Find out here ...  The premier competition for professional table tennis players is ... the World Table Tennis Championship.
Alongside the Olympic Games, the World Championship is where every player wants to be ... and perform at their best in order to claim the title of World Champion. So where are the next World TT Championships being held?  The next world championships
Well, since 2000, the World Table Tennis Championship has been split into two separate competitions. Team events are now held in even numbered years, whilst individual events (singles and doubles) are held in odd numbered years. So the next World Table Tennis Championship individual events will be in Yokohama, Japan in 2009 whilst the next team event will be in Moscow, Russia in 2010. So who are the current World Champions?
Wang Liqin - one of the all time greats ... Wang Liqin of China is the current holder of the individual men's title following his sensational victory in Zagreb, Croatia in May 2007 when he retained his men's singles crown.  In a repeat of the previous men's singles final held in Shanghai, China in 2005, Wang Liqin beat his compatriat Ma Lin in a pulsating match to win the world title for a record equalling third time - and put himself amongst the all time greats of table tennis.
by courtesy of the ITTF  In the women's event, it was 18 year old Guo Yue of China who took the title, beating compatriat Li Xiaoxia in a closely contested final.
Beating her doubles partner in the final, she also moved up one place to number three in the world rankings. by courtesy of the ITTF And in the team events ...  In the team events at the World Table Tennis Championships held in Guangzhou, China from 24 February to 2 March 2008, the hosts dominated proceedings as they took both the men's and women's titles.
In the men's event (The Swaythling Cup) China beat Korea 3-0 with Ma Lin, Wang Hao and Wang Liqin all winning comfortably. Ma Lin beat Ryu Seung Min 11-5, 12-10, 6-11, 11-5
Wang Hao beat Lee Jung Woo 7-11, 14-12, 11-5, 11-9
Wang Liqin beat Joo Se Hyuk 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 Whilst the women only dropped one set in the final against Singapore, winning 3-1 to retain the Corbillon Cup. Guo Yue beat Li Jia Wei 9-11, 11-13, 9-11
Zhang Yining beat Feng Tianwei 11-5, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6
Wang Nan beat Wang Yue Gu 11-5, 11-5, 11-4
Zhang Yining beat Li Jia Wei 9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-3
But how did the World Championships begin?
The first World Championship ... The history of table tennis goes back to the late 1800s, but it was in 1926 that the modern game of table tennis began and the inaugural World Championship took place that year in London, England. Hungarian Roland Jacobi took the men's singles title in that first year, beating another Hungarian (Zoltan Mechlovits) in the final as european players dominated the championship. However, the frequency and format of the world championship has changed through the years.
A short break ... Although the World Championship went from strength to strength - being held annually until 1939 - the second world war prevented it from being played in 1940 ... and for the following six years. However, by 1947 the time was right to recommence, and it once again became an annual event.
The rise of the East The Hungarian and English players dominated the World Championship for the first 25 years and it wasn't until 1952 that the european stranglehold was finally broken. 
Japan's Hiroji Satoh (pictured right) astonished the world with his unexpected victory in the men's singles that year - in part due to the unique sponge racket he used to bamboozle his opponents.
But it wasn't until 1953 in Bucarest, Rumania that China first entered the World Championships as they became full members of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
From annual to biannual At the World Championship's Annual General Meeting in Tokyo, Japan in 1956 the ITTF voted in favour of changing it to a biannual event. By starting this change with effect from the 1957 event in Stockholm, Sweden, they also ensured that it wouldn't clash with the Olympic Games held in the even numbered years.
China and Japan dominate The 1959 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Dortmund, West Germany and that year also saw the first Chinese winner of the men's singles title as Jung Kuo-Tuan beat Hungarian Ferenc Sido in the final.  From that point on, China and Japan started to dominate world table tennis, consistently taking the men's singles title.
It was only Stellan Bengtsson (pictured right) of Sweden in 1971, and Istvan Jonyer of Hungary in 1975 who stopped the men's singles title from going to the Far East between 1959 and 1987.
Europe on top of the World again ... However, during the 1990s, the european players once again dominated the world game with Jan-Ove Waldner, Jorgen Persson and Jean-Philippe Gatien becoming World Champions in 1989, 1991 and 1993, and Jan-Ove Waldner winning his second title in 1997.
Further changes to the Championship Starting in Kuala Lumpur in 2000, the World Table Tennis Championship was split into two separate competitions. The team events are now held in even numbered years, whilst the individual events (singles and doubles) are held in odd numbered years. So the next World Table Tennis Championship individual events will be in Yokohama, Japan in 2009 whilst the next team event will be in Moscow, Russia in 2010.
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