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Touchline issue 22 | November 2015 | 19
Germany
2016 Table Tennis World Cup
hosted by Saarbrücken
The International Table Tennis
Federation has announced that the
Liebherr 2016 Men's World Cup will be
held in Saarbrücken, Germany.
The prestigious event, which only
20 of the world's best table tennis
players qualify for, will be staged in
Saarlandhalle between 1st and 3rd
October 2016. Saarbrücken will be
the third German city and the 12th
European city to host the event since
the first World Cup in 1980.
Magdeburg was the host in 2010, more
recently in 2014, Düsseldorf was the
home; notably on both occasions,
China's Zhang Jike, the reigning
Olympic champion reached the final.
It will be the 16th time that Europe has
staged the event since first being the
host in 1995 in Nîmes. Furthermore, it
will be the 12th consecutive time that
Europe has been the home.
The 2015 edition, which was held in
the Swedish city of Halmstad from 16
- 18 October 2015, saw World number
one, Ma Long winning his second
consecutive World Title event after the
World Championships in May, moving
him closer to accomplishing his Grand
Slam dream.
South Africa
Durban to host the 2022
Commonwealth Games
Durban will be the first African city to
be awarded the four-yearly multi-sports
event. The 71 nations and territories of
the Commonwealth Games Federation
made the decision unanimously in New
Zealand after receiving Durban's final
candidate city briefing at the general
assembly in Auckland. Durban was the
only candidate left when Edmonton,
Canada withdrew its bid in February,
citing costs.
The general assembly also voted to
increase the number of compulsory
sports at the games from 10 to 16.
Scotland's Louise Martin was elected
the first female president of the
federation, deposing incumbent Prince
Tunku Imran of Malaysia who held the
role for four years.
South Africa's record in hosting
the football World Cup in 2010
and the Rugby World Cup in 1995
demonstrated its organisational
ability but it has not yet hosted a
multi-sports event of the scale of the
Commonwealth Games.
The games are scheduled to open July
18, 2022, marking the birthday of South
Africa's first black president, Nelson
Mandela who died in 2013.
Principals of the Durban bid committee
have said existing infrastructure will
be used to minimize costs and the
games, scheduled to take place over
12 days, will make a profit. An athletics
track will be installed at the existing
Moses Mabhida Stadium and venues
are already in place to host cycling,
swimming and indoor events.
An athlete's village will be constructed.
Scotland and Canada have offered to
host the 2017 Commonwealth Youth
Games after the withdrawal of the
appointed host, St. Lucia.
China
Beijing awarded 2020 Winter
Olympics
Beijing has become the first city to be
awarded both the summer and winter
Olympic and Paralympic Games when
the Chinese capital beat Almaty in
Kazakhstan by just 44 votes to 40, with
one abstention.
Beijing held the summer Olympics in
2008 in what was then seen as China
sealing its place on the world stage
as an emerging superpower. This
time it had been the strong favourite,
presenting itself as a safe pair of hands
against underdog Almaty.
But the former capital of the Central
Asian republic ate into China's
support on the International Olympic
Committee with an impressive
"Keeping It Real" campaign that played
on Beijing's reliance on artificial snow
and the vast distances between its
venues.
Some of Beijing's 2008 venues,
including its iconic Bird's Nest
national stadium will be reused for
the 2022 Games. But it will also make
widespread use of machine-made
snow for outdoor events and some
of the venues are 200 kilometres (125
miles) from Beijing.
Beijing has said it will spend $3.06
billion on running the Games and
special infrastructure for the event.
That does not include $5 billion for a
high-speed train link from Beijing to
Zhangjiakou, where many mountain
events will be held.