Minenhle Ndwandwe 

Durban is mostly known for its hospitality and beautiful places that it has. The city of Durban won Düsseldorf with 90 votes in a competition against who hosts the World Cup.

The two cities, Durban and Dusseldorf bid for the right to host the tournament in 2023 and after member associations of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) voted at the 2020 virtual ITTF AGM.

Busybuddies website stated that this is very historic, as it is the first time the ITTF’s most prestigious event is being held in South Africa.

Durbanites are very excited about this event.

“I was hoping they would go for Cape Town but I’m just glad they chose Durban, an opportunity to meet new people and get to see our tennis team do what they are good at,” said Zinhle Mthembu who’s a resident in Durban

The president of ITTF, Khalil Al-Mohannadi also congratulated South Africa

“The hosting of the tournament by South Africa is a confirmation of the ever-increasing international appeal of table tennis. Congratulations to both South Africa and Germany on presenting very strong bids to host the 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals,” Al-Mohannadi said.

Joe Carrim, who is the president of the South African Table tennis board also expressed how happy he is about this.

“I am obviously ecstatic and beside myself with joy. The sleepless nights and all the hard work have paid off. I want to say to Germany that their presentation was absolutely superb,” said Carrim

Picture: insidethegame.biz