It is now decided that the European Table Tennis Championship for teams will be held in Malmö. The venue is Malmö Arena and the championship will take place between 10–17 September 2023.
Table tennis is one of the major world sports and a European Championship attracts interest in both Europe and the rest of the world. Both the women’s and men’s tournament has 16 competing teams that are divided into 4 groups. After that, playoffs await with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. In total, there will be 32 registered teams. A major table tennis championship will put Malmö on the “table tennis map” and contribute to the city’s, and also the entire region’s, table tennis associations being able to recruit new members.
– We are very happy that Malmö will be the host city for such a big championship as the table tennis EC. Now we will work on developing activities around the championship that will encourage more girls and boys to try table tennis. It really is a sport for life and engages both young and old, says Ewa Bertz (L), chairman of the recreation board.
The Swedish Table Tennis Association’s ambition is to environmentally certify the European Table Tennis Championships, which is completely in line with the city of Malmö’s ambitions as a sustainable city.
– Finally it is clear that we will be able to welcome the table tennis family to my hometown Malmö and the fantastic Malmö Arena. We are happy to be able to invite you to the first sustainable table tennis championship ever, without car and bus transport, which is completely in line with the Swedish Table Tennis Association’s strategy. I am convinced that the championship will increase interest in our sport, which can be practiced by everyone throughout their lives, both in the city and in the region and the whole country, says the Swedish Table Tennis Association’s president Petra Sörling.
Facts
The last time Sweden organized a European table tennis championship was in 1990 when Gothenburg and Scandinavium were the hosts. At that time, team and individual classes were played simultaneously and Sweden won no less than three medals, two of which were gold. Mikael Appelgren took his third EC gold in singles and the men’s team with Jan-Ove Waldner, Jörgen Persson, Mikael Appelgren, Peter Karlsson and Erik Lindh, won the team tournament.