The President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), Petra Sörling, has pointed to the rise of Uganda’s Sir Joseph Sebatindira, the world number one in the under-11 category, as a key example of the sport’s expanding global footprint.
Sörling made the remarks while expressing concern over the proposed table tennis venue for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, calling it too small to meet the sport’s current momentum.
“In Los Angeles, we think our venue is too small,” Sörling said during a briefing with international journalists.
“The location is excellent, but I am sad to say we can only accommodate a maximum of 7,000. We are selling out bigger venues than that. Let’s see what we can do. There is still time.”
Sörling underlined that table tennis is no longer thriving only in traditional powerhouses such as China, but also in emerging nations.
“We have a number one for the under-11 from Uganda,” she said, referencing Sebatindira.
“We’ve never seen what we are facing now. Venues are selling out in less than 20 minutes. The momentum we saw after Paris is just the beginning.”
Her remarks drew support from the Uganda Table Tennis Association (UTTA), whose president, Robert Jjagwe, emphasised the significance of Sebatindira’s achievement on the world stage.
“She is very correct,” Jjagwe said. “Like I said, it is not every day that you get a World Number 1 from a third-world country like Uganda. We must invest in our global stars and protect this record as hard as we can as a country.”
Table tennis at LA28 is currently scheduled to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, alongside other disciplines like wrestling and judo.
The expected seating capacity mirrors that of Paris 2024, but Sörling insists that it does not reflect the sport’s current and projected demand.
The ITTF is already responding to this growth with the expansion of its professional calendar, including the debut of its elite WTT Grand Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July, the first to be staged outside Asia, and another in Malmö, Sweden, in August.
Sörling also stressed that tapping into the U.S. market is a priority, and events like the Grand Smash are designed to test the country’s appetite for professional table tennis.
“The challenge is whether we want to stay in Vegas or go to LA,” she said. “We will try now and see how it ends in July.”
