Could Australia one day have a world tour event?

[Lachy]

Does anyone know how it is decided who gets to host the world tour events? Why never Australia or England? Because I would think table tennis in our countries would be bigger than in Qatar or Kuwait. I would love to see Timo Boll play in Melbourne!

 

[TT Guru]

England has hosted numerous Pro Tour events in the past. Infact, the first ever Pro Tour Open tournament was the 1996 Kettering Open.
Australia ran no less than four events, in 1996, '97, '98, '99. The first was in Brisbane, and the next three in Melbourne.
Not sure if Timo played, but Ma Lin won in '99, Kong Linghui in '98, and Schlager in '96.
I agree it would be nice to revisit Australia on the tour, and perhaps even New Zealand.
There is a plan for an Oceania circuit next year, much like the Euro-Africa circuit arranged for this year in association with the World Tour.

So you won't have to wait long.

 

[Mr. RicharD]

I think it is more about who can sponsor the even better. I'm not quite sure how events are chosen in the World Tour, but I would assume that most countries don't get as many venues because of the lack of sponsorship to host the event. Tournaments cost a lot of money and very often entry fees don't cover it.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Oceania TTF is doing a lot of work to try and raise it's profile and standing with the ITTF, Scott Houston the former development officer did a great job and established the Oceania Cup which was great, I think it's not out of the realms of possibility to see Oceania joining the World Tour at some point in the near future.

 

[Lachy]

I didn't know that, thanks. Probably should brush up on my history of table tennis.

 

[Lachy]

Yeah I suppose sponsorship would play a big part. It would be very hard to get that sponsorship in Australia. TV ratings probably help decide it too.

 

[Matt Hetherington]

The OTTF just got sponsorship from DHS which is a great start

 

[Lachy]

The Oceania cup was a good event. One of the very rare tt events to be televised in Australia!

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Yea it wasn't too bad, I hope they can build on it in future years

 

[dici]

I kind of believe it may depends on if the local organization/government able to get some sponsorship for the world tour or not. It use to be that Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan has a spot in pro tour for few years too. And I think there was a English Open during 2011 isn't it?