The African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) has awarded the hosting rights of the Olympic singles qualifiers and the Africa Cup to Rwanda during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the ATTF held in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, during the 26th ITTF African Championships.
Rwanda received massive support from the delegates as Tunisia withdrew its bid to support the candidacy of the East African nation as the host of the two prestigious tournaments in the 2024 calendar of the ATTF as they get the nod to host a major table tennis tournament as the best players in Africa go to “the Land of a Thousand Hills” come 2024 for the very first time.
“This is the first time that Rwanda will host a continental table tennis event. Even more notable is the significance of the tournament given that it’s an Olympic qualifier. It means a lot for the federation and the country; we get to watch the best players on the continent and our team gets to participate and get a chance for qualification”, President of the RTTF John Birungi described the development as another milestone in the progress made by their federation in the last five years.
Adding further: “It also means that it creates a precedent for Rwanda to host other big table tennis tournaments and one could even dream of hosting the world championships one day.”
We will get assistance from the ATTF to organize a good event and we will get support in the form of professional tournament equipment, tools, and guidelines.
What we have seen in Tunis has been an outstanding display with live streaming of games and real-time live scoring in and around the playing arena. We expect no less in Kigali and this is in addition to the magnificent facilities we already have in Rwanda,” Birugi stated.
ATTF President Khaled El-Salhy allayed that the massive support to Rwanda by the delegates was a confirmation of the confidence the continent has in the Rwanda Table Tennis Federation (RTTF).
