by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

In terms of national associations, Russia provides the greatest number of new officials who have gained the highest qualification in officiating.

Lyudmilla Gryaznova, Ksenia Tulenkova and Alex Zaryanov are the names in question.

Three new names, for each of Jordan and Russia, two officials have gained the award; Jordan’s Ala-Aldin Kanani and Ibrahim Albawaliz have both qualified, as have Malaysia’s Nur Asmara Diana Abdullah and Wong Teck Leong.

Meanwhile, from the other national associations it is one apiece.

China’s Yang Chengbo, Hong Kong’s Ng Tsz Kin and Korea’s Jang Sun Hong have all gained the highest accolade as have England’s Harry Jutle, Italy’s Umberto Mallini, Sweden’s Benny Sandmo, India’s Manjunath Kalaghatta Ramaswamy and Canada’s Marzeih Hakimara.

The new appointments mean that the number of Blue Badge Umpires stands at 247 in total.

Notably China with 22 Blue Badge Umpires is the national association with the highest number, followed by Germany with 19 in number; next in line is India and Japan, each with 17 such officials. A total of 12 from Korea and 10 from Russia complete the list of national associations in double figures.

In terms of continents, there are 101 Blue Badge Umpires listed in Asia, 97 in Europe, 16 in Africa, 15 in North America, 13 in Latin America and five in Oceania.

Tuesday 17th January: List of Blue Badge Umpires (December 2016)