The United States is one of four finalists to host the World Veterans Championship in 2018, the world's largest table tennis tournament, it was announced today by United States Table Tennis (USATT) officials. USATT, along with Caesars Entertainment, the Las Vegas Convention Center and a local organizing committee comprised of USATT Hall of Famers David Sakai and Danny Seemiller, are bidding to host the event from June 18 – June 24, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
USATT CEO Gordon Kaye will travel to Suzhou, China to make the groups’ final presentation at the ITTF’s QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships on April 27. A decision by the Swaythling Club International, rights holder of the World Veterans Championship, is expected to be made almost immediately.
Japan, Korea and France are also bidding to hold the tournament which attracted 1,640 competitors (age 40 and over) representing 58 countries in New Zealand in 2014. The 2016 tournament in Spain is expected to feature nearly 3,000 players.
One of the great sports and entertainment capitals in the world, Las Vegas, would be the site from June 18-24, 2018. USATT’s bid seeks to make the 2018 event the biggest in the 34-year history of the tournament with a capacity to host up to 5,000 competitors. Previously, the largest World Veterans Championship was held in Bremen, Germany in 2006 when 3,650 competitors from 58 countries participated in the event.
"USATT is honored to be selected to make the final presentation to the Swaythling Club International Committee later this month,” said USATT CEO Gordon Kaye. “USATT has been successfully running major tournaments for years, and I think the City of Las Vegas and our partners provide us with the perfect formula to make this event the biggest and best ever.”
The last time the World Veterans Championship was held in North America was Vancouver, Canada in 2000. The United States has not hosted the event since 1990 in Baltimore, MD.
USA Table Tennis is organized under the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of table tennis in the United States. As a member service organization it promotes table tennis by creating opportunities for athletes and coaches of all backgrounds to participate in the sport through more than 250 clubs and over 350 tournaments across the nation annually. USA Table Tennis is a member of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), and is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Pan American and Olympic Games.
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