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 Championship individual events will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2025 whilst the next team event will be held in London, England in 2026 which will mark the 100th anniversary of the championships.

Fan Zhendong of China is the current holder of the individual men's title following his victory in Durban, South Africa in May 2023 when he beat Wang Chuqin to retain his men's singles crown (the St Bride Vase).

He will hold the title until the next individual events take place in Doha, Qatar in 2025.

In the 2023 women's singles event, Sun Yingsha of China claimed the title of World Champion and The Geist Prize when she beat Chen Meng (China).

Sun Yingsha will hold the title until the next individual events take place in Doha, Qatar in 2025.

In the 2023 men's doubles event, it was Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong of China who took the title of World Champions when they beat Jang Woojin and Lim Jonghoon (South Korea) to win The Iran Cup.

Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong will hold the title until the next individual events take place in Doha, Qatar in 2025.

In the 2023 women's doubles event, it was Wang Yidi and Chen Meng of China who took the title of World Champions when they beat Jeon Jihee and Shin Yubin (South Korea) to win The W.J.Pope Trophy.

Wang Yidi and Chen Meng will hold the title until the next individual events take place in Doha, Qatar in 2025.

In the 2023 mixed doubles event, it was Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha from China who retained their title of World Champions when they beat Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata from Japan to win The Heydusek Cup.

Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha will hold the title until the next individual events take place in Doha, Qatar in 2025.

The 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships took place in Busan, South Korea from 16 to 25 February 2024.

China were the clear favourites to retain their Men's Team title which they won in 2022 and they duly obliged, beating France 3-0 in the final to retain The Swaythling Cup.

China will hold the men's team title until the next team events take place in London, England in 2026.

China were the clear favourites to retain their Women's Team title, and they duly obliged, beating Japan 3-0 in Busan, South Korea to win the Corbillon Cup in 2024.

China will hold the women's team title until the next team events take place in London, England in 2026.

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.

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 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 astonished the world with his unexpected victory in the men's singles that year - in part due to the unique sponge-covered racket he used to bamboozle his opponents.

1952 World Champion - Hiroji Satoh

But it wasn't until 1953 in Bucharest, Romania that China first entered the World Championships as they became full members of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

But it wasn't until 1953 in Bucharest, Romania that China first entered the World Championships as they became full members of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

At the World Championship's Annual General Meeting in Tokyo, Japan in 1956, the ITTF voted in favour of changing it to a biennial 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.

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.

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.

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 Championship individual events will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2025 whilst the next team event will be held in London, England in 2026 which will mark the 100th anniversary of the championships.