by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
Already the number of national associations enrolled has passed the 2016 mark; 90 in number is the new standard.
Now place your bets; can the Costa Blanca number be beaten?
On Wednesday 14th March, a total of 3,940 players, fully paid has been received; significantly and another 447 entries are pending; if 411 of those come to fruition, by my arithmetical analysis a new record is set.
Unquestionably one record in terms of numbers has been set; a quite amazing total of 611 players from the United States have enrolled! The number in Alicante/Elche was 120 in total.
Possibly a record number of entries but most importantly, if ever an endorsement was needed that table tennis is a global sport; the 2018 World Veteran Championships provides the answer.
The national associations represented are:
Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, England, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Isle of Man, Indonesia, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Kosovo, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Monaco, New Caledonia, Netherlands, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wales