Panaji, Dec 22 (IANS): Goa will host India's first ever World Table Tennis (WTT) series event from February 27 to March 5, it was announced here on Thursday.

The top tier WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 will take place at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor stadium, located at the Goa University Campus.

Stupa Analytics, a homegrown sports analytics firm, will be the tournament host with active support from the Goa government.

"Goa is the nation's biggest tourist destination and I am overjoyed to welcome WTT to our shores as they announce WTT Contenders Goa 2023 as the first event of the WTT Calendar. We are happy that Goa has been chosen as the host for a WTT event for the very first time in India," said state tourism minister Rohan Khaunte during the press conference.

WTT Series is the official professional table tennis series of events, with the world's best players facing each other off in various category tournaments throughout the year with the four Grand Smashes being the ultimate prize to win.

The six Star Contender events pit 48 men and women in the respective singles main draws, with the top 30 world ranks eligible to play, four among whom will compulsorily have to be in the world top 20.

"The WTT Star Contender in Goa will showcase the new brand of Table Tennis to the Indian people, and we believe this will be the first of many WTT events in India," said WTT Managing Director Matt Pound.

"We look forward to working closely with the Goa government and Stupa Analytics to make this event a big success and develop Table Tennis in India together, also in conjunction with TTFI. The world's best Table Tennis players will love coming to Goa and together we will make history," he added.

Star Contender events also boast of a 16-team doubles main draw and an eight-team mixed doubles main draw. Eight qualifiers each in singles and four in doubles also get to scrap with the best while host countries are also provided with sufficient wild-card entries in both singles and doubles.