Matchroom Sport launch World Championship of Ping Pong - 10/10/2012
Matchroom Sport are to stage the inaugural World Championship of Ping Pong at the iconic Alexandra Palace, London over the weekend of 5th and 6th January 2013.
The WCPP aims to catapult ping pong into the big league and onto the international television stage.
The prize fund is US$100,000 with $20,000 going to the ultimate champion and the equipment will be old school sandpaper hard bats.
Players will initially compete in eight groups of eight players in a double elimination format where two wins means advancement to the last 32 while two defeats means the end of the road.
Played over the Saturday afternoon, there will be 80 matches in total to see the field reduced from 64 down to 32 players. All matches will be best of three games, first to 11 with a two point winning margin required.
From there the event is straight knock-out until the last two men are standing and Sunday night’s final will be over the best of five games.
Commented Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn, “We are very excited to be promoting this event and although it’s a leap into the unknown for us, I believe that ping pong is a sensational sport that has a limitless potential to get bigger and bigger.
“We will have something like 15 to 20 countries represented and this is something we will be looking to build upon in future years.
“Ping pong is a game for all ages and nationalities and is a truly global sport and we will be looking to announce some big name sponsors for the event as it gets closer.
“Tickets are now on sale at See Tickets and we’re looking to get a big crowd in at the Ally Pally for what will be the first of many major ping pong events.”
|
