Panaji, Dec 22 (Representative) World Table Tennis (WTT) has awarded Panaji, the capital of Goa, the rights to host India’s first ever World Table Tennis (WTT) series event. The top tier WTT Star Contender Goa 2023, has been scheduled from February 27 – March 5 at the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Indoor stadium, located on the Goa University Campus in the southern Taleigao neighborhood of the state capital. An announcement to this effect was made at a press conference here in the presence of Rohan Khaunte, Minister of Tourism, Government of Goa.Stupa Analytics, a leading and homegrown sports analytics firm will be the tournaments hosts with active support from the Government of Goa. Also present at the event were Matt Pound, Managing Director, WTT, Dr. Geeta Nagvenkar, Executive Director, Sports Authority of Goa, Megha Gambhir, Co-Founder & CEO, Stupa Analytics and Deepak Malik, Co-Founder & Chief Sports, Stupa Analytics.Speaking on the occasion Rohan Khaunte, said: “ Goa is the nation’s biggest tourist destination and I am overjoyed to welcome WTT to our shores as they announce WTT Contenders Goa 2023 as the first event of the WTT Calendar. We are happy that Goa has been chosen as the host for a WTT event for the very first time in India.
“We have positioned ourselves as a top sporting state by hosting various international sporting events and will continue to do so to develop and promote sports in order to make India a sporting nation.” WTT Series is the official professional table tennis series of events, with the world’s best players facing each other off in various category tournaments throughout the year with the four Grand Smashes being the ultimate prize to win. The six Star Contender events pit 48 men and women in the respective singles main draws, with the top 30 world ranks eligible to play, four among whom will compulsorily have to be in the world top 20.Star Contender events also boast of a 16-team doubles main draw and an eight-team mixed doubles main draw.Eight qualifiers each in singles and four in doubles also get to scrap with the best while host countries are also provided with sufficient wild-card entries in both singles and doubles.Speaking about the launch of WTT Star Contender Goa, Matt Pound, said: “The WTT Star Contender in Goa will showcase the new brand of Table Tennis to the Indian people, and we believe this will be the first of many WTT events in India. We look forward to working closely with the Goa government and Stupa Analytics to make this event a big success and develop Table Tennis in India together, also in conjunction with TTFI. The world’s best Table Tennis players will love coming to Goa and together we will make history.”