by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
The ladies in question are Korea’s Park Jong Yeop and Nam Eunwoo alongside China’s Di Liping and Portugal’s Celeste Araujo.
Three new names from Asia; with the male names included, the total is seven; Hong Kong’s Lai Siu Chung and Yeung Lau Ming in addition to Singapore’s Wong Hoi Shek and Cao Hanming, like Di Liping from China, complete the list.
Meanwhile from Europe the overall number is now eight. Additional to Celeste Araujo, Russia’s Yan Zubar and Vladislav Alontsev plus Germany’s Nico Zorn, Hungary’s Imre Bencsik and Austria’s Thomas Gamsjäger, as well as Denmark’s Jens Gullberg and Estona’s Jyrj Talp join the order.
From Africa, the one new name is Nour Eldeen Nagy.
New additions, it means that in terms of continents, Asia leads the way with 117 Blue Badge Umpires, followed by Europe with 108 overall. Both Africa and North America now have each 18 such qualified personnel, whilst 13 is the number for Latin America and five for Oceania.
In terms of national associations, eight are in double figures. China with 27 Blue Badge Umpires tops the list. They are followed by Germany with 21 in number and Japan who possesses 19 in total. Next on the list is 18 from India, 15 from Korea, 14 from Russia and 11 from the United States; the one further country with impressive numbers Egypt, their total is now 10 following the elevation of Nour Eldeen Nagy.
A total of 149 umpires now leave the list, the Blue Badge qualification having expired; overall, as of Monday 1st January, there are 279 such qualified officials.
Blue Badge Umpires: Latest list (as and from Tuesday 2nd January 2018)
