The major table tennis tournaments

The professional table tennis calendar has events almost every week, on every continent. For new fans the names are confusing: Grand Smash, Star Contender, Feeder, team Worlds. This guide ranks the major table tennis tournaments by importance and explains what each one is worth.

The Olympics

The Olympic tournament takes place every four years and is, for many players, the most coveted title. Table tennis has been Olympic since Seoul 1988. Paris 2024 had five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's teams, and mixed doubles. Each country may enter at most two players per singles event.

The history and winners are in table tennis at the Olympics.

World Table Tennis Championships

The World Championships are the sport's oldest event: the first edition was held in London in 1926, the year the ITTF was founded. Since the 2000s they have been split into two events that alternate:

• individual Worlds in odd years, with singles, doubles and mixed doubles;
• team Worlds in even years, with men's and women's national teams.

Winning the world singles title is one of the biggest achievements in the sport. Hugo Calderano took silver at the 2025 Worlds in Doha, becoming the first man from outside Asia and Europe to reach a world singles final.

WTT Grand Smash

The Grand Smashes are the top events of the professional tour run by WTT (World Table Tennis), created by the ITTF in 2019. They are comparable to tennis's Grand Slams: big draws, the world's best players and the maximum ranking points, the same as the Olympics and the Worlds. The Singapore Smash and China Smash are among the best known.

In 2026, Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi won the Singapore Smash mixed doubles.

Table Tennis World Cup

The ITTF World Cup is a singles event with places allocated through the ranking and continental qualification. The men's version started in 1980 and the women's in 1996. In recent editions, both have been held together at a single event. In 2025, in Macao, Hugo Calderano won the title, beating China's Lin Shidong in the final.

WTT Finals

The WTT Finals close the tour season. Only the top players of the year qualify, for a short and very strong draw.

The WTT tour, by level

Below the big events, WTT runs a series of tournaments that award points for the world ranking:

Values from the table in force in 2026. Smaller events are key for young players and for players from outside the elite nations to earn points and get into bigger tournaments.

Continental events

Each continent has its own championships, which also award Olympic places and points:

• Americas: the Pan American Games and the Pan American Championships. Brazil's Hugo Hoyama won ten Pan Am Games golds, and Calderano won the singles in 2015, 2019 and 2023.
• Europe: the European Championships and European club competitions.
• Asia: the Asian Championships and the Asian Games, with a level close to the Worlds.
• Africa and Oceania: continental championships that secure Olympic places for the region.

Club leagues

Outside of national teams, many professionals play in club leagues with matches throughout the season. The strongest are in China (Super League), Germany (Bundesliga) and Japan (T.League), plus leagues in France and other European countries.

Local tournaments

In most countries, the national governing body runs a calendar of national championships, and regional associations and clubs run local events. In the US, USA Table Tennis sanctions tournaments of every size, many of them with events by rating level so beginners can compete too. See how to get started in where to play table tennis.

Frequently asked questions