ITTF World Masters opens in Gangneung with 3,000 players

More than 3,000 players from over 85 countries and territories filled Gangneung Arena as the ITTF World Masters Table Tennis Championships opened, turning a veteran tournament into a blunt measure of how wide the sport’s competitive base runs. The event took place inside Gangneung Olympic Park and carried a symbolic backdrop, with the same arena having staged Olympic moments at PyeongChang 2018.

The scale matters because Masters table tennis is no longer a side attraction. The 2026 championships, which run from 5 to 12 June and use both Gangneung Arena and Gangneung Speed Skating Rink, were expected to draw more than 4,000 participants from over 100 countries and territories. Even at opening, the turnout showed the demand that exists for sanctioned international competition well beyond the elite ranking circuit.

That demand has become part of the ITTF’s centenary story. The federation was founded in 1926, and its first World Table Tennis Championships were held in London that same year. Gangneung 2026 sits squarely inside that 100-year arc, with the Masters presenting the sport as something built to last across generations, not just across a single Olympic cycle.

Eligibility reflects that reach. The championships are open to players aged 40 and above, and Gangneung’s local event page says anyone born in 1986 or earlier may take part. The program includes men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles, giving veteran players multiple ways to stay in the game at a high level. In a sport often defined by its teenage prodigies and top-ranked stars, the Masters keeps competitive pathways open for players who have aged out of one tier but not out of the sport itself.

The opening also carried a local storyline. Bang Jeong-hwa, who became the first Korean player ever to win a singles title at the ITTF World Masters Championships when she took the women’s 50-54 crown in Rome 2024, arrived as a title-defense contender on home soil. Her Rome final went to deuce in the fifth game, a reminder that the Masters rewards pressure play as much as pedigree.

Hyun Jung-hwa, senior vice president of the Korea Table Tennis Association, was the first registered participant for Gangneung 2026, underlining the home federation’s investment in the event. With Rome 2024 having welcomed 6,100 athletes aged 40 to 99 from 111 member associations and nearly 10,000 table tennis enthusiasts overall, Gangneung opened as the next proof point that Masters competition has become an institution in its own right.