by Ian Marshall, Editor

Six members of the group are from Asia, three from Europe.

Hong Kong’s To Chi Keung, Korea Republic’s Jeong Youngbaek, Japan’s Tadanori Chiaki and India’s Ramana Kumar Dammalapati, alongside the Chinese duo of Chen Jinlei and Huang Chudong, represent the members from Asia.

Meanwhile from Europe, Finland’s Joonas Kivimaki, Macedonia’s Robert Mihajlovski and Switzerland’s Gabriele Chiari are the new names.

The new names means that the overall total for Asia moves to 124 Blue Badge umpires; for Europe it is 118 in number. Notably, for North America there are 19 registered Blue Badge umpires, one more than Africa and six more than Latin America; for Oceania it is five overall.

Notably, eight national associations boast more than ten currently registered Blue Badge umpires.

China with 30 overall leads the line, followed by Germany with 21 in total; Japan one less at 20 and then India with 19 such qualified officials. Next in the order of merit is Korea Republic with 17 Blue Badge umpires pursued by Russia with 15, the United States who own12 and Hong Kong with 12 overall.

In total there are 297 current Blue Badge umpires.

Newly qualified Blue Badge Umpires (left to right) Ramana Kumar Dammalapati, Huang Chudong and Chi Keung (Photos: courtesy of Rebecca Bergfeldt)

ITTF Umpires and Referees Committee: Latest list – Blue Badge Umpire (Updated Monday 29th October)