The ITTF World Tour, known as the ITTF Pro Tour until 2011, was an annual series of table tennis tournaments introduced by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 1996. The tour includes events in seven categories: Men's and Women's Singles, Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles, and Under-21 Men's and Women's Singles. The tour has its own points system, with players accumulating points based on their performances in the tournaments they enter.[1]
| Sport | Table tennis |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Ceased | 2020 |
| Replaced by | World Table Tennis |
| Owner(s) | International Table Tennis Federation |
| Sponsor(s) | Seamaster |
| Related competitions | ITTF World Tour Grand Finals ITTF Challenge Series |
Since 2017, the ITTF also announced that the World Tour would be split into two tiers, with six World Tour Platinum, the new top tier of World Tour, and six regular World Tour events. The players who gain the most points in each of the seven different categories will be invited to participate in the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals at the end of the year.
Since 2021, the ITTF World Tour has been effectively replaced by the newly created World Table Tennis.
Overview edit
| Tournaments | −'15 | 2013−'16 | 2017− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiers | I | Super Series | ||
| II | Major Series | |||
| III | Challenge Series | |||
ITTF Pro Tour (1996–2011) edit
Number of tournaments in each year (Grand Finals not counted):
| Year | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of tournaments | 10 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 16 |
| Location of Grand Finals |  |
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ITTF World Tour (2012–2019) edit
Number of tournaments in each year (Grand Finals not counted):
| Year | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of tournaments | 21 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 20 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Location of Grand Finals | |
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Winners of the tournaments edit
Grand Finals edit
Tournaments by year edit
This is a list of tournaments that have featured in the ITTF Pro Tour and ITTF World Tour since 1996, with "•" indicating the years in which each tournament featured.[2]
From 2004 to 2009, and again from 2011 to 2013, there were two China Open tournaments in each calendar year.
Since 2017, the ITTF Challenge Series has been run as a separate tour, reducing the number of tournaments on the main ITTF World Tour.[3]
| Tournament | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina Open
|
• | • | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 10 | ||||||||||||||
 Austrian Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 14 | ||||||||||
 Belarus Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
 Belgium Open
|
• | • | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Brazil Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 17 | |||||||
 Bulgarian Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Chile Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| China Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 33 |
| • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||||
 Chinese Taipei Open
|
• | • | • | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Croatia Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 14 | |||||||||
 Czech Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 9 | |||||||||||||||
 Danish Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
 DPR Korea Open
|
• | • | Part of Challenge Series | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Dutch Open
|
• | • | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Egypt Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| English Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| French Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
 German Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 20 | ||||
 Greek Open
|
• | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hong Kong Open
|
• | • | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Hungarian Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
 India Open
|
• | • | • | • | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Italian Open
|
• | • | • | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Japan Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 24 |
| Korea Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 19 | |||||
 Kuwait Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 10 | ||||||||||||||
 Lebanon Open
|
• | • | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Malaysia Open
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• | • | • | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Morocco Open
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• | • | • | • | • | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Nigeria Open
|
• | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Philippines Open
|
• | • | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Polish Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 13 | ||||||||||
| Qatar Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 21 | |||
 Russian Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
 Serbian Open
|
• | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Singapore Open
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• | • | • | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Slovenia Open
|
• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 9 | ||||||||||||||
 Spanish Open
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• | • | • | • | • | Part of Challenge Series | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Swedish Open
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• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 18 | ||||||
| UAE Open
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• | • | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 U.S. Open
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• | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | 9 | |||||||||||||||
 Yugoslavia Open
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• | • | • | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Tournament | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Total |
Business edit
On 12 January 2017, it was announced that Chinese shipping company Seamaster had agreed a four-year sponsorship and strategic partnership deal with the ITTF World Tour.[4]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Points allocation for ITTF World Tour standings". ITTF. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "ITTF Statistics". ITTF. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
- ^ "A motivating force, the Challenge tournaments". ITTF. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ^ "ITTF Secures World Tour Title Sponsorship & Strategic Partnership with Seamaster". ITTF. Retrieved 15 January 2017.