(by Steve Hopkins)
The ITTF Event Calendar has been pretty light in the first half of 2021 so as to not risk the Olympics in Tokyo. There have been a few qualification events which needed to happen because they were cancelled in 2020, but for the most part players will be preparing for the Olympics with local and regional events and not with tour events.
WTT has begun to fill the void with Youth events that highlight young talent in various regions (focusing on players who, for the most part, will not be in the Olympics). In June, there are WTT Youth Events in the Czech Republic and in Slovenia, and after the Olympics the WTT has already scheduled 24 Youth Events this year.
After the Olympics, there are a number of large Regional Events: The African Championships, Asian Championships and European Championships are in September. Of course, the World Table Tennis Championships will be in Houston in November.
Other events are just now being added to the calendar – with the Finland Open as the first of the tour events to make the calendar (in December).
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