Table tennis is one of the largest participation sports in the world so there are local, regional, national, continental and international tournaments taking place all around the world.

And since table tennis became part of the Olympic Games in 1988, the sport is gaining in popularity every year.

So let's now take a look at the Major tournaments for professional players.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) governs the sport and therefore they set the official table tennis rules and regulations and award the organisation of Major tournaments to affiliated National Associations around the world.

Players competing in these events are usually nominated by their National Association and therefore their National Association may also pay their entry fees and other expenses.

You'll find a calendar of international events here and you can get all the results of the Major tournaments by following the links below.

The results from these tournaments also enable the ITTF to produce a world ranking list (sometimes known as a rating list).

The most prestigious tournaments for professional table tennis players are the Olympic Games, the World Championships, and the four annual WTT Grand Smashes.

The World Table Tennis Championships started in 1926 in London, England, with Hungarian Roland Jacobi taking the inaugural men's singles title.

Yoo Nam Kyu became the first winner of the Olympic Games Table Tennis title when it became an Olympic Sport in his home country of South Korea in 1988.

And in 2019 the ITTF developed a new strategy and a new series of international events under the umbrella title of "WTT" (World Table Tennis).

The pinnacle of these events are the four annual "WTT Grand Smashes". However, the worldwide Covid pandemic of 2019-2022 delayed the start of this series.

Fan Zhendong of China took the men's title of the first WTT Grand Smash which was held in Singapore in March 2022.

The top players also play in many other international tournaments throughout the year and the ITTF have established a hierarchy of events.

The top tier consists of the...

• Olympic Games,
• World Championships and
• WTT Grand Smashes

...which each allocate 2000 world ranking points to the winner,

and these are followed by...

1. ITTF World Cup (1500pts to the winner)
2. WTT Cup Finals (1500pts)
3. WTT Champions (1000pts)
4. WTT Star Contender (600pts)
5. Continental Championships / Games / Cups (500pts)
6. WTT Contender (400pts)
7. WTT Feeder (150pts)
8. Multi-Sport Games (100pts)

The WTT series of events has replaced the previous series of tournaments which made up the ITTF Pro/World Tour from 1996-2020.

Continental tournaments include the...

• African Championships, African Games, African Cup
• Asian Championships, Asian Games, Asian Cup
• European Championships, Europe Top 16
• Latin American Championships, Latin American Cup
• North-American Championships, North-American Cup
• Oceania Championships, Oceania Cup

Multi-Sport Games include the...

• Pan-American Games
• Commonwealth Games
• Mediterranean Games and the
• Arab Championship.

The list of competitions just goes on and on.

If you get the chance to go to any Major table tennis tournaments I would urge you to go.

They provide great inspiration for any player, or prospective player, as you get to see the best players in action, close up.

I've been fortunate enough to attend some of these big events and in particular I remember the World Table Tennis Championships in Manchester, England in 1997 when the Swedish table tennis legend Jan-Ove Waldner won the men's singles title without losing a single game. Awesome.

You can also watch videos of many of these top tournaments and although it's never as good as being there yourself, they're well worth watching as you can learn so much about the subtleties of this great game.

Another benefit of going to these table tennis competitions is that you get to see many of the table tennis manufacturers and have the chance to look at their table tennis equipment and try out different rackets (paddles / bats) etc.

If you're a mere mortal like me, and you don't play the game like the Chinese table tennis professionals do, there'll be local and regional competitions taking place near you which you can play in.

If you need more information about local and regional competitions taking place near you, contact your National Association and they'll be able to help you.

I've played in lots of table tennis tournaments over the last 50+ years, and I've also organised quite a few local events as well.

So, if you're looking for information about how to organise your own table tennis tournament, or competition and tournament systems of play, take a look at my other articles, including starting and running a table tennis club.