Odisha government today signed an MoU with the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and Odisha State Table Tennis Association(OSTTA) to host the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship 2019 at Cuttack.
The championship will be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Cuttack from July 17 to 22 next.
Most of the top Commonwealth countries are participating in the championship. The countries included –India, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Srilanka, England, Scotland. Wales, Jersey, Australia, Cyprus, South Africa, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Sports and Youth Affairs Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev signed the MoU with TTFI Vice President S N Sultan and OSTTA President L N Gupta in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Sports and Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera.
Speaking on the occasion the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the MoU is important for promoting sports particularly table tennis in the state.
He congratulated TTFI and OSTTA for partnerning with the state government for hosting the championship and hoped that the event will bring renewed focus on table tennis in which India has been performing well in recent times.
Odisha Sports Minister T K Behera said the championship will witness participation of some of the best players from across the globe.
Indian paddlers have displayed unprecedented performance at the Asiad and in Commonwealth games in 2018 and the upcoming championship will be exciting to watch,he said.