'BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships' Group Preliminary Draw Ceremony

April 16, 4 PM at Busan e-Sports Stadium, Co-Chairmen Park Hyung-jun & Yoo Seung-min, ITTF President, Busan Bank President Attend

Legends Yoon Nam-kyu & Hyun Jung-hwa, Busan Prospects, Table Tennis Club Representatives Participate in Draw... Live W

The group preliminary draw ceremony for the ‘BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships’ will be held at 4 p.m. on the 16th at the Busan e-Sports Stadium.

Held at BEXCO from February 16 to 25, the ‘BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships’ is the most prestigious international table tennis tournament conducted as a team event. World-class table tennis players will fiercely compete for 16 tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics (8 each for men and women).

Forty countries each for men and women are divided into eight groups of five countries each, where they will compete in group preliminary leagues. The top three teams from each group will then compete in a round of 24 knockout tournament for ranking.

This group draw is conducted to assign groups for the preliminary league matches among the 40 participating countries announced last November.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced the list of 40 participating countries each for men and women on November 8 last year, exactly 100 days before the event.

The group allocation and draw criteria are based on the ITTF team rankings as of December 2023. The top eight ranked countries (associations) are automatically placed as top seeds in groups 1 to 8 according to their rankings. Then, the next-ranked countries are grouped in sets of four and drawn using a snake method, placing them in a zigzag pattern.

For example, seeds ranked 9 to 12 are drawn into one of groups 5 to 8, ranks 13 to 16 into one of groups 1 to 4, ranks 17 to 20 again into one of groups 1 to 4, and so on. When the lowest seeds ranked 37 to 40 are placed into one of groups 5 to 8, the entire draw is complete.

The eight group winners from each group league will advance directly to the round of 16. The teams ranked 2nd and 3rd in each group will face off in the first round of the main tournament, with opponents decided by another draw. The winners of these matches will fill the remaining eight spots in the round of 16, proceeding with the knockout tournament.

Therefore, to advance beyond the quarterfinals, it is essential to finish first in the group to directly enter the round of 16 and face relatively weaker opponents in the first main tournament match.

At the draw ceremony, about 100 people including the Mayor of Busan, the ITTF President, Co-Chairman Yoo Seung-min, BNK Busan Bank President Bang Seong-bin, and representatives from the Busan table tennis community will attend. Table tennis legends and promising players from Busan will appear sequentially to draw the group preliminary groups.

▲ Park Hyung-jun and Yoo Seung-min, Co-Chairmen of the Organizing Committee ▲ Ron Petra S?rling, ITTF President ▲ Khalil Al-Mohannadi, Vice President ▲ Steve Dainton, CEO, and other key ITTF officials, along with ▲ Presenting Partner Bang Seong-bin, President of BNK Busan Bank, will attend the event in large numbers.

Promising players from Busan, who dream of following the path of legends like Yoo Nam-kyu and Hyun Jung-hwa, as well as representatives of Busan’s table tennis clubs who provide strong support, will take turns conducting the group preliminary draw.

The draw results will be confirmed by Ma Young-sam, former ITTF Chief Umpire and Deputy Referee, and Park Mal-yeon, Home Referee, together with ITTF officials including Karl Zindrak and Mohamed Eldartri.

Additionally, before the draw ceremony, an ‘ISO 20121’ certification award ceremony will take place. Kang Myung-soo, President of the Korea Standards Association, will present the certificate and certification plaque to the Organizing Committee. With this, the BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships has achieved the distinction of being the first ITTF-hosted tournament ever to obtain ISO 20121 certification.

By acquiring this certification, the BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships has been recognized as a standard for sustainable world table tennis championships.

The event will be broadcast live worldwide via YouTube. Not only participating countries but also table tennis enthusiasts around the world can watch the group draw ceremony.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “I hope that people around the world who love table tennis and sports will visit Busan, cheer for their national players, and unite through table tennis.” He added, “I also hope they enjoy the hidden flavors, warmth, and scenery throughout Busan and create many unforgettable memories.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.